My wife and I are planning to purchase a property in Williton and have instructed a Williton conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Skipton Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Williton conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard 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 property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Williton lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

It has been 4 months since my purchase conveyancing in Williton concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £170,000. 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 premises 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.

I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Williton I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Williton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Williton conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Williton conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Williton conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions could be useful:

What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing?

Williton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Be sure to find out if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. For instance some leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Williton. If you love the propertyin Williton yet your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced difficult compromise. It is important to be aware whether changing the roof or some other significant cost is pending to be shared by the tenants and will dramatically impact the level of the service charges or require a specific payment. Does the lease have more than 80 years remaining?

What is the average conveyancing fee for conveyancing in Williton?

The average cost last year for conveyancing in Williton was just under one thousand five hundred pounds excluding SDLT and HMLR fees.