My fiance and I are planning to purchase a house in Shenfield and have appointed a Shenfield conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. The Mortgage Works have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Shenfield conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Shenfield lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I moved into my apartment on 14 February and my personal details are still not registered. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Shenfield advises it will be dealt with in less than a month. Are titles in Shenfield particularly slow to register?

As far as conveyancing in Shenfield is concerned, registration is no faster or slower than anywhere else in England and Wales. Rather than based on location, timescales can differ depending on the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry must send notices to any other parties. As of today approximately three quarters of submission are fully addressed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to extensive delays. Registration is effected after the buyer is living at the property therefore an expedited registration is not usually an essential issue but if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor could communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.

How does conveyancing in Shenfield differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build premises in Shenfield contact us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is constructed. This is because developers in Shenfield typically 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 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 used to new build conveyancing in Shenfield or who has acted in the same development.

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Shenfield. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Shenfield - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I inherited a leasehold flat in Shenfield, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Shenfield with over 90 years remaining are worth £181,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 per annum. The lease expires on 21st October 2077

You have 51 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £30,400 and £35,200 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

I need to assess costs for conveyancing in Shenfield from various conveyancer and appoint one. Do I get them to sit tight until I have found somewhere to purchase.

You should wait to get your conveyancer to open a file and submit searches once the sales memorandum has been issued by the selling agent especially as Shenfield conveyancing searches are not cheap.