The Walkington conveyancing solicitors that just started acting on my purchase in Walkington have without warning shut down. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel and my previous Walkington lawyer was not. I paid them funds in advance. What should be my next steps?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.

Have just purchased a probate house at auction in Walkington. Conveyancing is required. What are my next steps?

Having legally committed yourself to purchase you will need to retain a conveyancing solicitor soon as you will have a tight deadline in which to complete the purchase. Every auction property will ordinarily have an associated legal pack. This will likely include evidence of title and search results. If you have purchased leasehold premises the legal papers may include a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing documentation specific to leasehold premises. You must give this to your appointed conveyancing solicitor as soon as possible. You also need to ensure that you have funds organised to complete on the date specified in the contract.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unseasoned as a 1st time purchaser of a garden flat in Walkington. Do I receive the keys to the premises on completion from my solicitor? If so, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Walkington?

On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Walkington. Your solicitors will arrange to send the purchase money to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to collect the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

I can not work out if my lender requires a lease extension. I have called into my local Walkington bank branch on a couple of occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My Walkington conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called and was told they refuse to lend based on their specific requirements. Who do I believe?

Provided that the conveyancer is on the bank approved list, they must comply with the CML Handbook provisions for the bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our property can not be found. The lawyers who handled the conveyancing in Walkington 5 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?

These day there are duplicates made of almost everything, and your conveyancer should know precisely where to locate all the suitable paperwork so you may buy or dispose of your house without a hitch. Where copies can’t be found, your conveyancer can put in place insurance or indemnities against future claims on your premises.

I decided to have a survey carried out on a house in Walkington prior to instructing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor has said that some lenders may not grant a loan on a flying freehold house.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements for example to Halifax. If you e-mail us we can check via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Walkington. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Walkington to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Walkington from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Walkington can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ lawyers.
If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing. A minority of Walkington leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers. If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Walkington state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you fail to have the approvals to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.

I am the registered owner of a 2 bed flat in Walkington, conveyancing having been completed 8 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable properties in Walkington with a long lease are worth £181,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2075

You have 51 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £30,400 and £35,200 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.