My fiance and I are hoping to buy a house in Wickersley and are in fact using a Wickersley conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Nationwide Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Wickersley conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Wickersley solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Wickersley is more expensive?

Wickersley leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.

Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a search tool with a view to list firms on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel for instance in Wickersley?

Lexsure has not been advised of any intention on the part of the BSA to develop such a tool.

Should commercial conveyancing searches reveal planned roadworks that may impact a commercial land in Wickersley?

Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Wickersley will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers expend in looking into accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Wickersley. The search result provides definitive information on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Wickersley.

For each commercial conveyancing transaction in Wickersley it is critical to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately could result in delays to Wickersley commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not ordered for residential conveyancing in Wickersley.

I am looking for a flat up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Wickersley I like with a park and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Wickersley for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass 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 solicitor about this.