My husband and I are planning to buy a home in Portland and are in fact using a Portland conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Accord Mortgages Ltd have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Portland conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Portland solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I require expedited conveyancing in Portland as I am under pressure to sign on the dotted line in less than 4 weeks. Fortunately I do not require a mortgage. Can I decline from having conveyancing searches to save fees and time?

As you are not obtaining a home loan you are at free not to have searches carried out although no conveyancer would suggest that you don't. Drawing on our experience of conveyancing in Portland the following are instances of what can arise and adversely impact the marketability of the property: Enforcement Actions, Outstanding Fees, Outstanding Grants, Unadopted Roads,...

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a quick, no chain conveyancing. Portland is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Portland are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Portland you must be sure that your lawyer goes 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 Portland 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years left on my flat in Portland. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Portland.

I purchased a 1st floor flat in Portland, conveyancing was carried out June 2005. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar flats in Portland with over 90 years remaining are worth £181,000. The ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 2076

With 51 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £30,400 and £35,200 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

Should one as executor remove a deceased person's details from the title deeds for a property in Portland?

If a Portland property is co-owned and one of the owners passes away, their name will not automatically be removed from the title deeds. You are not required to remove their name as when it comes to a disposal your lawyer would simply be asked to supply proof why the other proprietor is not included in the transfer, such as a grant of probate.

With the aim of making the sale conveyancing smoother for the sale of the property you may apply to have the deceased person erased from the title by applying to HMLR with evidence of the death. There is no land registry fee payable.