As someone unfamiliar with conveyancing in Laleham what’s the number one tip you can give me for the legal transfer of property in Laleham

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Laleham and elsewhere in England and Wales is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists plenty of room for confrontation between you and others involved in the house moving process. For example, the vendor, estate agent and on occasion a lender. Appointing a lawyer for your conveyancing in Laleham should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the process whose interest is to look after your legal interests and to keep you safe.

Sometimes a third party with a vested interest may try and persuade you that it is in your interests to do things their way. For instance, the property agent may claim to be helping by claiming that your solicitor is slow. Or your mortgage broker may advise you to do take action that is contrary to your conveyancers advice. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties in the home moving process.

We have agreed to purchase a house in Laleham. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Clydesdale have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?

As you are obtaining a mortgage with Clydesdale your lawyer must check the formal instructions outlined in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Clydesdale. The CML Handbook includes minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancing practitioners are required to report to Clydesdale where a lease does not comply with these specifications. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not limited to Laleham.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Laleham. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Shortly after, the lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Yorkshire 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 Yorkshire 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 had an offer accepted on a house in Laleham on 5/3/2024, valuation was booked five days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Nationwide and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Nationwide to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

A friend suggested that if I am buying in Laleham I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Laleham conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Laleham around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Laleham Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Laleham Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Laleham.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on last month in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Laleham is the location of the property. Can you offer any opinion?

Flying freeholds in Laleham are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Laleham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Laleham may decide 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 premises.

My fiance and I may need to sub-let our Laleham basement flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a Laleham conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Your lease dictates the relationship between the landlord and you the flat owner; specifically, it will say if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Laleham do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can a leaseholder apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Laleham conveyancing firm to represent me?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to judgment on the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Laleham residence is 147 Redford Close in June 2012. The Tribunal determined the lease extension premium to be at £4,200 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 82.93 years.