Completed the sale of my flat in Tyne And Wear last February but the buyer keeps telephoning daily complaining that their solicitor needs to hear from mine. What should have happened following completion?

Following your sale your solicitor is committed to forward the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. Depending on the transaction, your conveyancer must also send confirmation that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been redeemed to the buyers conveyancers. There is unlikely to be post completion procedures specific conveyancing in Tyne And Wear.

The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Tyne And Wear. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?

All banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Tyne And Wear. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £175. Shortly after, the property lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Skipton 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 Skipton 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.

Nationwide have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a house in Tyne And Wear has been agreed to, now what?

The estate agent will wish to know who your solicitors are (ensure that the solicitors are on the lender’s panel). Contact Nationwide or your financial adviser and complete any outstanding paperwork. Nationwide will sellect a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or vendor to schedule a time for the valuation to happen. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about a week to receive the mortgage offer. Nationwide will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Tyne And Wear.

The deeds to our property can not be found. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in Tyne And Wear 4 years ago have long since closed. What do I do?

Nowadays there are copies made of almost everything, and your lawyer will know precisely where to locate all the appropriate documentation so you may buy or dispose of your property without any difficulty. If copies are not available, your solicitor may be able to put in place insurance or indemnities against future claims on the property.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one close by in Tyne And Wear I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Tyne And Wear for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.

My partner and I may need to let out our Tyne And Wear ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Tyne And Wear conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Tyne And Wear do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.

Tyne And Wear Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Plenty Tyne And Wear leasehold properties will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building levied by the management company. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this amount, normally periodically accross the year. This can differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a large sum, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it can be surprisingly expensive. Is the freehold reversion owned jointly by the tenants? Be sure to enquire if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is fairly common in Tyne And Wear leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Tyne And Wear. If you like the apartmentin Tyne And Wear but your dog is not allowed to move with you then you have a very hard decision.