My fiance and I are looking to acquire a flat in Swavesey and are in fact using a Swavesey conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Swavesey solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Swavesey solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Will our conveyancer be raising questions concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Swavesey.

Flooding is a growing risk for lawyers dealing with homes in Swavesey. There are those who purchase a property in Swavesey, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.

Solicitors are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, but there are a various searches that may be initiated by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which can give them a better appreciation of the risks in Swavesey. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms sent to a buyer’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a usual inquiry of the vendor to find out if the premises has suffered from flooding. If the property has been flooded in past and is not notified by the seller, then a buyer could commence a compensation claim stemming from an misleading reply. The buyer’s solicitors may also order an environmental search. This should disclose whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be conducted.

I have recentlybeen informed that Stirling Law have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Swavesey for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I establish that the property is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest way to see if the property is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Swavesey conveyancing specialists.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Swavesey in advance of appointing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor has said that some mortgage companies tend refuse to give a loan on this type of property.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions from Halifax. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Swavesey. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Swavesey especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Swavesey.

My aunt completed her conveyancing in Swavesey 9 years past. She has been married, widowed and has recently married again. She now intends to the sell the Swavesey property. I suspect that she will just be need to provide a copy of her marriage certificates to the but she is concerned it will hold up the house move. Should she appoint a to update the Land Registry information for the house?

You are not required to update the title for the property as long as you have the evidence needed to demonstrate how the change of name resulted.

Any purchaser’s should examine the land registry information and require evidence to establish the name change e.g. marriage documentation.