How up to date is your database of Holborn solicitors on the Aldermore conveyancing panel? Do Aldermore send you an updated list?

Holborn conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Aldermore conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Aldermore directly.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with RBS. I assume I don't need a Holborn lawyer on the RBS panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your RBS mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the RBS mortgage from the register. RBS, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where RBS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. RBS has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I can not fathom if my lender requires a lease extension. I have called into my local Holborn building society branch on various occasions and was told it does not affect the mortgage offer and they will lend. My Holborn conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called and was told they refuse to lend in accordance with their specific requirements. Who do I believe?

The conveyancing practitioner has to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook Part 2 conditions for your bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.

After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Holborn. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an upfront payment of £225. Soon after, the property lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Coventry BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I purchased a semi-detached Victorian property in Holborn. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Yorkshire Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Yorkshire Building Society to clarify?

You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Holborn and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the position with your conveyancing lawyer who completed the work.

I am buying a new build house in Holborn with a mortgage from Coventry Building Society. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The property agent suggested that I not inform my conveyancer about the deal as it will impact my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Holborn is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Holborn are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Holborn you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Holborn may determine 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 residence.