I am in the process of selling my apartment in Wollaston and the EA has just telephoned to say that the buyers are changing their property lawyer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a major lender only work with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Wollaston ?

Banks have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 25 years.

Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some 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 purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

Me and my brother purchased a terraced Edwardian property in Wollaston. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and . I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Wollaston and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Wollaston with a loan from . The sellers would not reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not disclose to my conveyancer about the extras as it will affect my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

My wife and I may need to sub-let our Wollaston garden flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Wollaston conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in Wollaston do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.

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

Most Wollaston leasehold properties will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the block set on behalf of the landlord. Should you acquire the flat you will have to pay this amount, usually quarterly during the year. This can vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, normally this is not a exorbitant sum, say about £25-£75 but you need to check it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. This information is helpful as a) areas could cause problems in the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to have all the details

I pay a maintenance fee for my appartment in Wollaston. Due to redundancy and personal issues I slipped into arrears with remittance. The managing agents agreed a clearance schedule but there remains in the region of £3000 outstanding as of today.

I am under pressure to dispose of the property and I am panicking this can hold me back if I have to settle the arrears in advance. I'd like to sell up and subsequently repay the debt from the completion monies - is this achievable?

The handing your Wollaston sale should be able to negotiate with the appropriate parties, and agree with them whether or not they would accept payment out of the sale proceeds. Here is indicative of why it might be good to choose a in Wollaston as they are likely to have a strong line of communication with the management company.