My partner and I are hoping to purchase a home in High Peak and have appointed a High Peak conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our High Peak conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual 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 Quality 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred High Peak lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

I am acquiring a property mortgage free in High Peak. I have lived for the previous 15 years in High Peak. Conveyancing searches are expensive. Given that I know the area and road intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?

Provided that you do not need a home loan, then almost all of the High Peak conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your conveyancer will 'advise', no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but he is duty bound to do this. One thing to take into account; if you are going to sell the house one day, it may be of importance to your prospective buyer what the searches disclose. On occasion premises with functional issues can still show up unexpected search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in High Peak will be able to give you some sensible guidance concerning this.

I appreciate that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to take this when purchasing a property in High Peak? or I am told that there is a law dating back centuries that means some owners of property residing in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for maintenance to the chancel within the church. Is this a legitimate concern for conveyancing in High Peak?

Unless a prior acquisition of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you can take it that solicitors conducting conveyancing in High Peak to continue to advocate a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.

I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for my conveyancing in High Peak. I've chance upon a site which looks to be the perfect answer If there is a chance to get all formalities completed via email that would be ideal. Should I be wary? What are the potential pitfalls?

As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?

Frank (my husband) and I may need to let out our High Peak ground floor flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a High Peak conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed 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?

Notwithstanding that your last High Peak conveyancing solicitor is not around you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I am the registered owner of a ground floor flat in High Peak, conveyancing was carried out 3 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in High Peak with a long lease are worth £165,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 50

With just 50 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £36,100 and £41,800 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.