My partner and I are looking to purchase a home in Moston and are in fact using a Moston conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Chelsea Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Moston conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 lender 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 Moston lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

My wife and I have just acquired a house in Moston. We have noticed several issues with the property which we consider were missed in the conveyancing searches. What action can we take? Can you clarify the type of searches that needed to have been conducted as part of conveyancing in Moston?

It is not clear from the question as what problems have arisen and if they are specific to conveyancing in Moston. Conveyancing searches and investigations initiated as part of the buying process are supposed to help avoid problems. As part of the process, the vendor answers a questionnaire called a Seller’s Property Information Form. answers turns out to be inaccurate, then you may have a claim against the seller for any losses that you have suffered. The survey should have identified any problems with the structure of the property. Assuming a detailed survey was carried out and the issues were not identified, you may have a claim against the surveyor. However, if you did not have a full survey, you may be responsible for fixing any defects that have now been noted. We would always encourage buyers to take every possible step to ensure they are completely aware of the condition of a property before purchase regardless of whether they are buying in Moston.

We wanted to use a property lawyer in Moston for our house move. Our broker informed us that our bank Aldermore won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?

A bank can insist on an approved conveyancer act for it. You would be expected to meet the charges for this. Try using our database to choose a solicitor to conduct conveyancing in Moston on the Aldermore approved list of solicitors.

My wife and I are at the point of looking at flats in Moston and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a property lawyer in place at this stage? I will be getting a mortgage with Santander.

You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the estate agent. Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Santander, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Santander conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

I have a mortgage with Barclays for my property in Moston. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Barclays?

Your original mortgage agreement with Barclays will provide that you need their approval prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Barclays’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Barclays will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Barclays directly. You need not do this via a Barclays conveyancing panel lawyer.

I was told three weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by Principality. Is it usual for Principality to only issue the offer once my solicitor in Moston is approved on their conveyancing panel? Principality have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their Professional Indemnity Insurance Schedule.

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Principality to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Principality conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Moston from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Moston can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ representatives.
In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Moston state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first. Some Moston leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers. If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and delays many a Moston conveyancing transaction. If a new share is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

I inherited a 2 bed flat in Moston, conveyancing having been completed 5 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding properties in Moston with over 90 years remaining are worth £201,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2084

You have 64 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £14,300 and £16,400 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.