I am one month into the sale of my house in Urmston and the EA has just called to say that the buyers are swapping property lawyer. The excuse is that the lender will only engage with solicitors on their approved list. Why would a major lender only deal with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Urmston ?

Banks have always had an approved set of law firms they are content to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for decades.

Banks blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.

I am purchasing a house without a mortgage in Urmston. I have lived for the last twelve years in Urmston. Conveyancing searches are expensive. As I know the road and vicinity intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?

Provided that you do not need a mortgage, then almost all of the Urmston conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your solicitor will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but he is duty bound to take that path of encouragement . Do bear in mind; if you are likely to dispose of the house at a future date, it will likely be be of importance to your future purchaser what the searches contain. There are plenty of instances where premises with no practical issues can still throw up unexpected search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Urmston should be able to give you some constructive guidance concerning this.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Urmston?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Urmston. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Urmston I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Urmston for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.

My father-in-law has encouraged me to appoint his lawyers for conveyancing in Urmston. Should I use them?

Much as we are happy to recommend a Urmston conveyancing lawyer it’s preferable to select a conveyancing practitioner is to get feedback from friends or family who have actually experience in using the conveyancer that you are considering.