My husband and I are hoping to purchase a house in Wroxham and have appointed a Wroxham conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Wroxham conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Wroxham lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I appreciate that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I require chancel insurance when purchasing a house in Wroxham? or Apparently there is a law dating back centuries that means some house owners living in a parish church boundary will be compelled to pay for repairs towards the chancel within the church. Is this applicable for conveyancing in Wroxham?

Unless a prior acquisition of the property completed post 12 October 2013 you could take it that solicitors conducting conveyancing in Wroxham to continue to recommend a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on last month in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Wroxham is where the house is located. What do you suggest?

Flying freeholds in Wroxham are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Wroxham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Wroxham may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

How can the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 affect my commercial offices in Wroxham and how can you help?

The particular law that you refer to provides a safeguard to commercial leaseholders, granting the a statutory right to apply to court for a continuation of occupancy at the end of the lease term. There are limited grounds that a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are complicated. We are happy to direct you to commercial conveyancing solicitors who use the act to your advantage and handle your commercial conveyancing in Wroxham

Last April I purchased a leasehold flat in Wroxham. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I own a 1 bedroom flat in Wroxham, conveyancing formalities finalised November 1998. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Wroxham with over 90 years remaining are worth £197,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 2081

With only 56 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £29,500 and £34,000 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.