My apartment in Southwell is up for sale and I have a buyer. Will my need to be on the conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their panel criteria fairly frequently in recent years.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Southwell is where the house is located. Is there any guidance you can give?

Flying freeholds in Southwell are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Southwell you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Southwell may determine 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 premises.

As co-executor for the estate of my aunt I am disposing of a house in Cardiff but live in Southwell. My lawyer (approximately 260 kilometers from mehas requested that I sign a statutory declaration before completion. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in Southwell who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?

strictly speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or qualified solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are Southwell based

I only have 72 years remaining on my flat in Southwell. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Southwell.

I bought a 1 bedroom flat in Southwell, conveyancing having been completed in 1995. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Southwell with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 50

With 50 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £36,100 and £41,800 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range 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. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

My nephew is about to join the property ladder, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the offer was accepted on flat we telephoned the mortgage company to issue the formal offer. We were very surprised to discover that mortgage companies do not accept all , they must be on their panel, is this correct?

Banks tend to imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Southwell on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Unlikely.