The Morden conveyancing firm that I appointed last week on my purchase in Morden have suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and my preferred Morden lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Nationwide. I assume I don't need a Morden conveyancer on the Nationwide panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

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

Having read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Morden solicitor - who is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

Lloyds will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Lloyds will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your solicitor will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Morden postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Lloyds, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Morden.

Lloyds have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a property in Morden has been agreed to, now what?

Your estate agent will wish to be advised as to your conveyancing practitioner's details (ensure that the lawyers are on the lender’s approved list). Telephone Lloyds or your financial adviser and finish off any appropriate forms. Lloyds will instruct a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or vendor to schedule a slot for the valuation to take place. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes on average ten days for the mortgage offer to be issued. Lloyds will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Morden.

Do commercial conveyancing searches reveal impending roadworks that could affect a commercial site in Morden?

Many commercial conveyancing solicitors in Morden will perform a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers spend in investigating accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Morden. The report 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 Morden.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Morden it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been addressed adequately could cause delays to Morden commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not conducted for domestic conveyancing in Morden.

I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Morden prior to instructing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor has said that some lenders tend not issue a loan on such a house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you contact us we can look into this further via the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Morden. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Morden. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Morden - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I am the leaseholder of a first flat in Morden. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for a lease extension?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Morden flat is 14 Nutwell Street in January 2014. The premium payable for the acquisition of a new lease of the subject premises was in the sum of £30,523 This case related to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 62.94 years.