I am one month into the sale of my ground floor flat in Redfield and the estate agent has just e-mailed to say that the purchasers are swapping property lawyer. The reason given is that the bank will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a major mortgage company only deal with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Redfield ?

Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for over 25 years.

Banks point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some 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. The buyers are not going to have any impact on this.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my property can not be found. The conveyancers who conducted the conveyancing in Redfield 10 years ago are no longer around. What are my options?

As long as the title is registered the information relating to your ownership will be documented by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to perform a search at the Land Registry, find your house and obtain up to date copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally retain a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for £20 inclusive of VAT.

How does conveyancing in Redfield differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build property in Redfield contact us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is finished. This is because developers in Redfield tend to buy the land, 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 property lawyers 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Redfield or who has acted in the same development.

I am looking for a flat up to £305k and identified one close by in Redfield I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Redfield suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a home loan that many years may be an issue. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you may ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.

Are all Redfield legal practices on every lender conveyancing panel?

You can use our search tool or you can go into your high street lender branch in Redfield. Chances are that they can recommend conveyancing solicitors in Redfield