Do I have to visit the offices of the solicitor to sign the legal charge? If so, I will instruct a firm who offer conveyancing in Winchester so that I can pop in to their offices if required.

These days approved lawyers for lenders carry out all of the communications via Royal Mail, e-mail or over phone calls. This means that they can undertake the legal work for your home move regardless of where you live in England or Wales. That being said you should see if you have the option of going to the offices of your conveyancing lawyer if you prefer.

My father informed me that in buying a property in Winchester there could be a number of restrictions prohibiting external alterations to the property. Is this right?

We are aware of a number of properties in Winchester which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to carry out external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Winchester should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

When it comes to mortgage companies such as Nottingham, do Winchester lawyers incur a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?

We are not aware of any lender fees to register on their panel, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Winchester conveyancing practitioner having made sure that they are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Lloyds will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Lloyds 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 Winchester 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.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my home can not be found. The conveyancers who dealt with the conveyancing in Winchester 4 years ago have long since closed. What are my next steps?

These day there are copies made of almost everything, and your lawyer should know precisely where to locate all the relevant paperwork so you can buy or sell your property without any difficulty. Where duplicates are not available, your lawyer may be able to arrange cover in the form of insurance or indemnities protecting you against possible claims on your property.

Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Winchester. Conveyancing is daunting 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 legal work.

Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Winchester

If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. 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. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided.

As a tenant I am liable for a maintenance fee for my flat in Winchester. As a result of poor financial planning I fell behind with remittance. I negotiated a settlement plan but there is still around £3000 currently due.

I want to sell and I am panicking this could threaten to derail the sale if I have to pay off the arrears first. Do I have to settle before - is this achievable?

Your lawyer will hopefully be able to negotiate with the appropriate parties, with a new to seeing if they would accept settlement out of the sale proceeds. This is indicative of why it is advisable to instruct a lawyer in Winchester as they may well have an open line of communication with the management company.