Me and my fiance are acquiring a flat in Heaviley and Offerton. My Conveyancer is not listed on the bank conveyancing list. Is it possible for me to use my Heaviley and Offerton conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the bank approved list?

You have a number of options open to you here

• Complete the deal with your chosen Heaviley and Offerton solicitor but your mortgage company will need to retain a property lawyer on their conveyancing panel. This will result in additional cost together with probable interruption.
• Get a new lawyer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
• Convince your lawyer to seek to join the mortgage company panel

It is a dozen years since I purchased my house in Heaviley and Offerton. Conveyancing lawyers have just been instructed on the sale but I can't track down my title documents. Is this a problem?

You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be kept by your mortgage company or they may still be with the conveyancers who handled the purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Heaviley and Offerton involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.

How does conveyancing in Heaviley and Offerton differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build residence in Heaviley and Offerton contact us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because house builders in Heaviley and Offerton tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Heaviley and Offerton or who has acted in the same development.

I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Heaviley and Offerton I like with open areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 years on the lease. There is not much else in Heaviley and Offerton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.

A licensed conveyancer acted on my conveyancing in Heaviley and Offerton four years past having retained my deeds but has now closed – What can I do to retreive them?

Deeds, as such, are no longer appropriate for the majority of homes in Heaviley and Offerton are registered digitally at Land Registry. Should you need to show evidence of proprietorship or are disposing of or re-mortgaging your solicitor should obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.

If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned as quickly as possible.