I was notified yesterday by my lender that my South Brent property lawyer is not on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. How can I check?

Your first step should be to contact your South Brent lawyer directly. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to inform you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they may be able to suggest a South Brent conveyancing practice that is on the conveyancing panel for your bank.

I am selling our home in South Brent and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built land that was not decontaminated. Any local lawyer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers are using a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in South Brent. We have lived in South Brent for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we contact our local Authority to get confirmation need.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer already. Are they able to advise? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)

Is it possible to swap conveyancer as I have to appoint one who is on the conveyancing panel. I instructed a family conveyancing solicitor in South Brent round the corner but the firm is not approved by

We will our best to assist in finding you a conveyancing solicitor in South Brent on the panel. Please note that the solicitors that we list do not pay us commission if you instruct them and are fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in South Brent. In making use of search facility on this page, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in South Brent.

I only have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in South Brent. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering South Brent.

I inherited a leasehold flat in South Brent, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Comparable properties in South Brent with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 50

With only 50 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £36,100 and £41,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor apartment in South Brent.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice as you normally would given that all rents and maintenance invoices should be allottedas part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process