My wife and I are hoping to purchase a flat in Lees and Moorside and have instructed a Lees and Moorside conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Barnsley Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Lees and Moorside solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Accreditation 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Lees and Moorside solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Lees and Moorside is more expensive?

Lees and Moorside leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving appropriate notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.

Can you help - my lawyer says that defective lease insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Lees and Moorside conveyancing?

The right level of defective lease indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Birmingham Midshires and Chelsea Building Society. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to borrowers take out such insurances.

We have agreed to purchase a house in Lees and Moorside. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Lloyds have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?

Given that your lender is Lloyds your lawyer must comply with the formal instructions set out in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Lloyds. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook includes minimum conditions for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Lloyds where a lease does not comply with these specifications. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not isolated to Lees and Moorside.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Coventry BS. I assume I don't need a Lees and Moorside conveyancing practitioner on the Coventry BS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your Coventry BS 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 Coventry BS mortgage from the register. Coventry BS, 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 Coventry BS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Coventry BS has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I used Arc property Solicitors a few years ago for my conveyancing in Lees and Moorside. Now, I need my documents but the law firm has closed. What do I do?

You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Lees and Moorside of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

About to purchase a new build flat in Lees and Moorside. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Lees and Moorside

Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme.