We are purchasing a house and require a conveyancing solicitor in Havering-atte-Bower who is on the conveyancing panel. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a firm?

Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Havering-atte-Bower.

The Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in Havering-atte-Bower have suddenly closed. I chose them because I had to have a firm on the conveyancing panel and my family Havering-atte-Bower lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT on account. What should be my next steps?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Havering-atte-Bower is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Havering-atte-Bower are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Havering-atte-Bower you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Havering-atte-Bower may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.

Am I better off to go with a Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing practitioner based in the location that I am hoping to buy? We have a good friend who can perform the legal formalities however his firm is located approximately 350miles away.

The benefit of a local Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing practice is that you can attend the office to sign documents, hand in your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local intelligence which is a plus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and they were content that must outweigh using an unknown Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing solicitor just because they are round the corner.

My husband and I may need to sub-let our Havering-atte-Bower ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Your lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will set out if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Havering-atte-Bower do not contain subletting altogether – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the sublease.

Havering-atte-Bower Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Where a Havering-atte-Bower lease has less than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have owned the property for 24 months in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension. The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this arrangement the tenants enjoy being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is usually employed if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. How much is the ground rent and service charge?