My wife and I buying a terrace house in Salford. We would like to carry out a loft conversion at the house.Will legal investigations on the property include checks to see if these alterations are allowed?

Your solicitor will check the deeds as conveyancing in Salford can occasionally reveal restrictions in the title documents which prohibit categories of changes or require the consent of a 3rd party. Many additions call for local authority planning consent and approval under the building regulations. Some locations are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or affect extensions. You should check these things with a surveyor ahead of any purchase.

My husband and I have organised the release of further monies on our home loan from Bank of Ireland as we intend to carry out alterations to our house in Salford. Are we obliged to appoint a bricks and mortar Salford solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?

Bank of Ireland do not ordinarily require a member of their conveyancing panel to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.

After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Salford. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £150. Not long after, the lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Leeds Building Society panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

My wife and I own a terraced Victorian property in Salford. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Nationwide Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the exact same address. Is it worth asking Nationwide Building Society to clarify?

You should review 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 Salford 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 question the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who completed the work.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £305k and found one round the corner in Salford I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, however it's only got 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Salford suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a home loan that many years will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.

I am using a search engine for the term conveyancing in Salford it shows results of numerous property lawyersin the area. With so much choice what is the best way to find the right solicitor for me?

The preferential way of finding the right conveyancer is via personal recommendation, so ask friends and family who have purchased a property in Salford or a local estate agent or mortgage broker. Charges for conveyancing in Salford differ, so it's sensible to request at least three costs illustrations from different companies. Be sure to seek confirmation that the fees are fixed.

My partner and I may need to let out our Salford garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Salford conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A lease governs the relationship between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in Salford do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

Salford Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Does the lease have in excess of 82 years left? Who manages the building? What is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent?