My wife and I are looking to purchase a house in Chathill and have instructed a Chathill conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Chathill solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 mortgage company 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 Chathill lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

I require conveyancing for an apartment in a relatively new development (five years built) in Chathill. Almost all the appartments have already been sold. Is it really necessary to order conveyancing searches for my conveyancing in Chathill?

You would be taking a significant risk in refusing to carrying out Chathill conveyancing searches. Without searches you have no clarity over flooding, environmental etc which may mean you walk away due to potential problems down the line. If you are buying without a mortgage there is no legal necessity to have them, but we would absolutely advise in the strongest possible terms that your solicitor conducts them. Where time pressures and cost are primary issues you should consider with your lawyer about the viability of search insurance

I'm purchasing a new build house in Chathill with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep advised me not disclose to my solicitor about this extras as it could adversely 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.

I only have 68 years unexpired on my lease in Chathill. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the landlord. For most situations a specialist would be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Chathill.

I bought a studio flat in Chathill, conveyancing having been completed 1995. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar flats in Chathill with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 50

With 50 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £36,100 and £41,800 plus legals.

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 without more detailed investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

I am an executor of my recently deceased aunt’s Will, with a bungalow in Chathill which will be marketed. The house is unregistered at HMLR and I'm told that some purchasers will insist that it is completed before they will move forward. What's the mechanism for this?

In the circumstances you refer to it seems sensible to apply to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. HMLR’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.