I was told recently by my mortgage adviser that my Yate solicitor is not on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. What can I do to be sure if this is correct?

The best course of action for you to take is to contact your Yate conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to inform you of the situation. Where they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the approved list of lawyers for your mortgage company.

When does exchange of contracts happen for residential conveyancing in Yate and do I need to be at the lawyers branch?

Where you are in close proximity to our conveyancing solicitors in Yate you are welcome to attend to sign contracts. However, the law practices we recommend supply a countrywide conveyancing service and provide as equally comprehensive and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The executing of the sale agreement is not the point of no return. A signed contract is necessary for the solicitor to address the formalities at the suitable time, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Yate)to be in the office at the appropriate time.

What does a local search tell me about the house my wife and I purchasing in Yate?

Yate conveyancing often starts with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search organisations for instance Xpress Legal The local search plays an important role in many a Yate conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search should supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject headings.

Do I need to be concerned about 3rd parties that I am dealing with are suggesting an online conveyancing firm as opposed to a local Yate conveyancing practice?

As is the case with lots of service providers, often recommendations from family and friends can be extremely useful or valuable. But there are many players in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders might all put forward lawyers to use. On occasion these lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but occasionally there is an underlying financial incentive behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to choose your own conveyancer. However, bear in mind that the majority of banks operate an approved list of law firms you have to use for the lender related work in your transaction.

I own a leasehold house in Yate. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in Yate who acted for me is not around. What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Yate conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am the registered owner of a ground floor flat in Yate, conveyancing was carried out 4 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Yate with a long lease are worth £206,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2091

With only 67 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £10,500 and £12,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure 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 issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.