My fiancee and I are in the throws of looking at houses in Red Lodge and I am about to put in an offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I am planning to take a mortgage with Clydesdale.

You should start obtaining conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their details on to the EA. As you are taking out a mortgage with Clydesdale, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel.

The mortgage over my property is with Barclays for my property in Red Lodge. Conveyancing was finalised 12 months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Barclays?

Barclays must be informed of your intention in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Barclays’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Barclays will permit you to let 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 solicitor.

About to purchase maisonette in Red Lodge. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Building Society if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.

They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Red Lodge lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.

A colleague advised me that where I am buying in Red Lodge I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

This is a search is occasionally included in the estimate for your Red Lodge conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Red Lodge around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Red Lodge Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Red Lodge.

How does conveyancing in Red Lodge differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build residence in Red Lodge contact us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is finished. This is because house builders in Red Lodge tend to buy the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Red Lodge or who has acted in the same development.

Am I best advised to use a Red Lodge conveyancing solicitor based in the vicinity that I am purchasing? An old friend can perform the legal formalities but his firm is located 200kilometers away.

The primary upside of using a local Red Lodge conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to sign documents, hand in your identification documents and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a plus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and on the whole were impressed that should trump using an unfamiliar Red Lodge conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being local.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Red Lodge. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Red Lodge who acted for me is not around. Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Red Lodge conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Red Lodge Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

On the whole the cost for major works are not incorporated into the maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Red Lodge ask leasehold owners to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major works. If a Red Lodge lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most Red Lodgelease extensions you would need to own the property for two years before you are entitled to extend the lease. Best to be warned whether fixing the lift or some other major work is pending that will be shared by the tenants and could well materially impact the level of the maintenance costs or require a specific payment.