Me and my fiance are buying a 1 bedroom apartment in Stanford Le Hope with a mortgage. We have a Stanford Le Hope conveyancer, but the bank says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have little option but to appoint one of the bank panel firms or continue with our Stanford Le Hope solicitor and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. This feels very unfair; are we not able to demand that the lender use our Stanford Le Hope lawyer ?

Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Stanford Le Hope conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope? What am I being asked for?

You are right in the requirement set out by your solicitor has nothing to do with conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope. Nowadays you will not be able to proceed with any conveyancing deal without first handing over evidence of your identity. Ordinarily this takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence and a bank statement. Please note that if you are providing your driving licence as proof of identification it needs to be both the paper section and photo card part, one is not sufficient without the other.

Evidence of the origin of monies is necessary under Money Laundering Regulations. You should not be offended when when this is requested of you as your conveyancer will need to have this information on record. Your Stanford Le Hope conveyancing solicitor will need to see evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any money from you into their client account and they may also ask additional queries regarding the source of funds.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Stanford Le Hope is the location of the property. Can you offer any guidance?

Flying freeholds in Stanford Le Hope are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Stanford Le Hope you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Stanford Le Hope may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

Taking into account that I am about to part with hundreds of thousands of pounds on a house in Stanford Le Hope I wish to talk to a solicitor about myhome move before giving the go ahead to the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?

We could not agree more - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the lawyer who will be doing your conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important person, not a file number. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are quoted for residential conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope should be the figure that you are charged.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Stanford Le Hope where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Stanford Le Hope conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

I am the registered owner of a leasehold flat in Stanford Le Hope, conveyancing was carried out 5 years ago. 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? Equivalent flats in Stanford Le Hope with a long lease are worth £211,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2091

With only 67 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £10,500 and £12,000 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.