Is the fact that my solicitor in Alnmouth is not on my mortgage company's solicitor panel that there is a problem with the standard of the firm’s conveyancing?

It would not be wise to jump to that conclusion. There are all sorts of perfectly plausible explanations. Just recently a report by the solicitors regulator indicated that over three quarters of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The top 5 reasons are as follows: (1) low volume of transactions (2) the solicitor is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. If you are concerned you should simply call the Alnmouth conveyancing practice and ask them why they are no longer on the approved list for your lender.

The owners have very assertive vendors who has recommended a exclusivity contract with a non-refundable deposit 6,000. Are such agreements appropriate for Alnmouth conveyancing transactions?

This form of contract isn't frequently used in Alnmouth, conveyancers are often inclined to veer clients away from them as they divert attention from the main conveyancing focus and if you end up having your deposit forfeited then the solicitor is left exposed. Furthermore, there is no certainty that just because the vendor has signed a lock out contract they will sell to you. They may be in contravention of the contract if they are offered a large enough offer to do so because a wronged party with the benefit of a lockoutcontract will still have to establish consequential losses from the breach and these may not amount to the financial upside that your seller may obtain by breaching the agreement, no matter how morally shameful that may be.

This question may be naive but I am new to the house moving as a 1st time purchaser of a garden flat in Alnmouth. Do I receive the keys to the property on completion from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Alnmouth?

On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Alnmouth. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the purchase money to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be invited to receive the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs between 1 and 3pm.

Is it the case that all Alnmouth solicitor firms on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Bank of Ireland approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the SRA. The majority of lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such organisation would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I am buying a property in Alnmouth. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Leeds Building Society be concerned?

As you are obtaining a mortgage with Leeds Building Society your lawyer must comply with the formal instructions set out in Section two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Leeds Building Society. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook includes minimum specifications for solar panel roof-space leases, and property lawyers are required to report to Leeds Building Society where a lease fails to meet these conditions. The specifications relate to the installation of panels on properties countrywide and is not isolated to Alnmouth.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Alnmouth?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Alnmouth. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I own a leasehold flat in Alnmouth. Conveyancing was finished in five years ago. I have heard that I mustn’t let the lease length get too short. Is this correct?

Alnmouth domestic long term leases are for a set period - often 99 years when they are first granted. However a significant appartments in Alnmouth were built or converted 30 or more years ago and so these leases now have fewer than eighty years unexpired. This may sound like a long time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders generally require leases to have a minimum of seventy five years remaining to adequate security. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are approaching 75 years. To increase your property value you should be thinking about whether or not to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. There are also significant benefits to taking action before the lease reaches even 80 years as when the lease is less than 80 years the amount to be paid to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.