My wife and I are planning to purchase a house in Lifton and are in fact using a Lifton conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Lifton lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Lifton solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

A colleague recommended that where I am purchasing in Lifton I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Lifton conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Lifton around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Lifton Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Lifton.

It has been 2 months since my purchase conveyancing in Lifton completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

About to purchase a new build flat in Lifton. Conveyancing is necessary evil 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 conveyancing.

Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Lifton

Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? 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.

In surfing the world wide web for the phrase on line conveyancing in Lifton it shows results of many property lawyersin the vicinity. How do I determine which is the right conveyancer for the sale of my house?

The preferential method of finding the right conveyancer is through a personal referral, so enquire of colleagues and those you trust who have acquired a property in Lifton or the respected estate agent or financial adviser. Costs for conveyancing in Lifton differ, so it's sensible to request a minimum of three costs illustrations from varying types of conveyancers. Make sure that you clarify that the fees are fixed.