Having spent time reviewing consumer advice sites for a high-quality solicitor in Leighton Buzzard, most advise that I must instruct a CQS kitemarked lawyer. What is CQS?

The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme is the recognised kitemark for legal experts in buying or selling property, trusted by some of the UK's biggest lenders. Four years ago the Conveyancing Quality Scheme was officially recognised by the Building Societies Association (BSA). The scheme does not cover licenced conveyancers. Leighton Buzzard is one of the many areas in England and Wales where there are Accredited lawyers.

We are purchasing a property in Leighton Buzzard. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we will need to send our life savings into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our deposit?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am new to the process as FTB of a two bedroom flat in Leighton Buzzard. Do I receive the keys to the property on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Leighton Buzzard?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the vendor’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you should be invited to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

My wife and I have arranged the release of further monies on our home loan from Virgin Money as we intend to conduct improvements to our property in Leighton Buzzard. Do we need to choose a high street Leighton Buzzard solicitor on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

Virgin Money would not normally require firms on their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Virgin Money panel.

My wife and I have a 4 bedroom Edwardian property in Leighton Buzzard. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and TSB. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. Is it worth asking TSB to clarify?

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 Leighton Buzzard 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 purchasers. You can also check the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Leighton Buzzard what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Leighton Buzzard. All leases are drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall Insurance obligations

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Birmingham Midshires, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

I own a 1st floor flat in Leighton Buzzard, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2010. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Leighton Buzzard with a long lease are worth £171,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2104

With only 79 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £8,600 and £9,800 plus professional fees.

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 comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

We had our home loan approved on Monday with our bank. We appointed a local conveyancer in Leighton Buzzard last week. Today, our financial adviser called to say that the lender said that we cannot use our solicitor as they aren't on their panel. As novices, we had no idea that the bank had a say Is this permitted?

You can actually select any lawyer you want to choose including the said conveyancer in Leighton Buzzard but if they are not on the your lender's approved list you must pay an extra fee so the mortgage company can appoint their own conveyancer too. sometimes it is possible your solicitor may apply to get added to the lender panel. You can use internet search facilities including lenderpanel.com to find a conveyancing solcitor in Leighton Buzzard on the bank panel. You can go into your high street lender branch in Leighton Buzzard. They will know some good conveyancing solicitors in Leighton Buzzard on the approved list.