My husband and I are hoping to acquire a flat in St Andrews and have instructed a St Andrews conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Barclays Direct have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our St Andrews solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual 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 lender 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 St Andrews lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

I am purchasing a house mortgage free in St Andrews. I have been living for the last 15 years in St Andrews. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. As I have knowledge of the road and vicinity very well must I have all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a mortgage, then almost all of the St Andrews conveyancing searches are optional. Your solicitor will try and steer you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but she has a professional duty to do this. Do consider; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it will be of interest to your prospective purchaser what the searches contain. There are plenty of instances where premises with apparent issues can still throw up unfavourable search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in St Andrews will provide you some sensible advice in this regard.

Do commercial conveyancing searches reveal planned roadworks that could impact a commercial premises in St Andrews?

Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in St Andrews will order a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers expend in sourcing accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in St Andrews. The search result provides definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in St Andrews.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in St Andrews it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately can result in delays to St Andrews commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not carried out for residential conveyancing in St Andrews.

I used Stirling Law a few years ago for my conveyancing in St Andrews. I now require my papers however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?

You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in St Andrews of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in St Andrews what are the most frequent lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in St Andrews. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party. Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Virgin Money, and TSB all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

I bought a 1st floor flat in St Andrews, conveyancing was carried out in 2000. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding properties in St Andrews with over 90 years remaining are worth £227,000. The ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2097

With just 72 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.