My wife and I are hoping to buy a property in Liverpool and are in fact using a Liverpool conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Skipton Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Liverpool conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Liverpool lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

We just had an offer accepted to purchase with Coventry BS. We have called around locally but am struggling to find a Liverpool conveyancing firm on the Coventry BS approved list. Could you assist?

Please do make use of the find a conveyancing panel solicitor tool on this site. Please choose the lender and type Liverpool or your location and you will see a number of lawyer offices in Liverpool or nearest you.

Do commercial conveyancing searches disclose proposed roadworks that could impact a commercial land in Liverpool?

Many commercial conveyancing solicitors in Liverpool will execute a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers invest in investigating accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Liverpool. The search result sets out definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Liverpool.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Liverpool it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately can result in delays to Liverpool commercial conveyancing transactions as well as present a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not ordered for domestic conveyancing in Liverpool.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Liverpool I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, however it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Liverpool in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Liverpool what are the most common lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Liverpool. Most leases are drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain sections are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Bank of Scotland, and TSB all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Liverpool Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider before buying

In the main the outlay for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Liverpool require leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger repairs or maintenance. How much is the service charge and ground rent on the flat? Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the block?