My husband and I are hoping to buy a home in Kelsall and are in fact using a Kelsall conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Nottingham Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Kelsall conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 property lawyer 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Kelsall solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Why do I have to pay up front for my conveyancing in Kelsall?

Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Kelsall your lawyer will ask you to provide them with monies to cover the search fees. Normally this is requested to cover the fees of the Local Authority Search. If any down payment is payable against the total price then this should be needed immediately ahead of exchange of contracts. The closing balance that is due will be payable shortly before completion.

My wife and I have a semi-detached Edwardian house in Kelsall. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Bank of Ireland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You need to review 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 owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Kelsall and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.

I am buying a new build house in Kelsall with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not disclose to my lawyer about this extras as it will affect my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

Back In 2007, I bought a leasehold house in Kelsall. Conveyancing and Bank of Ireland mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Kelsall who previously acted has long since retired. Any advice?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Kelsall conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I inherited a garden flat in Kelsall, conveyancing formalities finalised January 1998. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Equivalent flats in Kelsall with over 90 years remaining are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2091

With only 70 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.