I am buying a right to buy a flat in Tolworth. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Tolworth you will have to appoint a solicitor on your bank's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Tolworth.

My husband and I are in the process of looking at houses in Tolworth and I am about to put in an offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I will be getting a mortgage with Yorkshire BS.

It would be sensible to commence your search sooner rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are seeking a mortgage with Yorkshire BS, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Tolworth. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Soon after, the property lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale 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.

I have instructed a Tolworth property lawyer having made sure that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancing practitioner will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Tolworth postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Principality, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Tolworth.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Tolworth is where the house is located. Can you offer any opinion?

Flying freeholds in Tolworth are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Tolworth you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Tolworth may decide 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 premises.

I have been sourcing a conveyancing practitioner in Tolworth for my home move. Is it possible to review a firm’s record with the profession’s regulator?

Anyone can search for published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions arising from inquisitions started on or after 1 January 2008. Go to Check a solicitor's record. For details Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors history, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. For non-uk callers, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator may monitor call for training requirements.

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Tolworth. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Tolworth - 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 am the proprietor of a a ground floor purpose built flat in Tolworth. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for a lease extension?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to assess the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Tolworth flat is Flat D 15 Claremont Gardens in September 2013. TheTribunal determined in accordance with section48 and Schedule13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty seven pounds (£14,187.00) This case was in relation to 1 flat.