Me and my fiance are purchasing a 1 bedroom apartment in Newbury Park with a mortgage. We have a Newbury Park lawyer, however the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel solicitors or continue with our Newbury Park property lawyer and pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We feel that this is inequitable; can we not insist that the bank use our Newbury Park conveyancing practitioner ?

No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Newbury Park conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Newbury Park last April yet the purchaser is calling me to moan that his conveyancer is waiting to hear from mysolicitor. What are the post completion sale formalities following completion?

After completion of your sale your lawyer should send the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer must also confirm that the home loan has been discharged to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion procedures unique to conveyancing in Newbury Park.

I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one near me in Newbury Park I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Newbury Park in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?

Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.

Am I better off to go with a Newbury Park conveyancing practitioner who is local to the property I am purchasing? We have a good friend who can execute the legal work however his firm is located 400kilometers drive away.

The benefit of a local Newbury Park conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute paperwork, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a benefit. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who instructed your friend and on the whole were impressed that should surpass using an unknown Newbury Park conveyancing lawyer just because they are local.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Newbury Park conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Newbury Park conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggest that you make enquires with several firms including non Newbury Park conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions might be useful:

Can they put you in touch with clients in Newbury Park who can give a testimonial? How many lease extensions has the firm conducted in Newbury Park in the last year?

I own a first floor flat in Newbury Park. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium payable for a lease extension?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement 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 judgment on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Newbury Park premises is 104 Coventry Road in July 2014. The Tribunal determined that the lease extension permium should be £22,896.15 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 60.29 years.