My wife and I are planning to purchase a house in Haywards Heath and are in fact using a Haywards Heath conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Britannia have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Haywards Heath solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Haywards Heath lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Do the conveyancing lawyers that you recommend handle right to buy conveyancing in Haywards Heath?

We work with a number of conveyancing specialists who can handle right to buy transactions Please contact the solicitors listed with a view to secure a costs illustration.

I have been told that property searches are the main reason for delay in Haywards Heath conveyancing transactions. Is there any truth in this?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Searches are not likely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Haywards Heath.

I have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and found one near me in Haywards Heath I like with a park and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 years on the lease. There is not much else in Haywards Heath for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Haywards Heath. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Haywards Heath should include some of the following:

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring? What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions You need to be informed what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

I inherited a leasehold flat in Haywards Heath, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Haywards Heath with a long lease are worth £206,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2089

With just 65 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £13,300 and £15,400 plus costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.