I am selling my home in Weybridge and the EA has just telephoned to warn that the buyers are changing their conveyancer. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a major lender only work with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Weybridge ?

Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the past few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for over 25 years.

Mortgage companies justify this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say 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. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Nottingham. I assume I don't need a Weybridge property lawyer on the Nottingham panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your Nottingham mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Nottingham mortgage from the register. Nottingham, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Nottingham has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Nottingham has instructed the Land Registry to do so

Completion of my purchase has taken place for my property in Weybridge. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?

Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Weybridge conveyancer having checked that they are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Leeds Building Society will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Leeds Building Society 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. You may wish to consider appointing your own Weybridge surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

3 months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in Weybridge completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

About to purchase a new build flat in Weybridge. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Weybridge

Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Weybridge. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in Weybridge who acted for me is not around. Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Weybridge conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

After months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Weybridge. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Weybridge conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Weybridge premises is 147 Redford Close in June 2012. The Tribunal determined the lease extension premium to be at £4,200 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 82.93 years.