I am progressing with the sale of my flat in North London and the estate agent has just telephoned to say that the buyers are switching conveyancer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named mortgage company only deal with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in North London ?

Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for many years.

Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

My grandmother passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in North London. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £4500. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Aldermore, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?

Given you plan to re-mortgage then Aldermore will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Aldermore conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Aldermore mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

Me and my brother have a semi-detached Edwardian property in North London. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Leeds Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??

You should assess 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 North London and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a quick, no chain conveyancing. North London is where the house is located. Can you offer any opinion?

Flying freeholds in North London are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside North London you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in North London may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

I own a second floor flat in North London. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for a lease extension?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a North London conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a North London residence is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 73.26 years.

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

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in North London. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You may have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and Nottingham Building Society all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.