I am buying a house mortgage free in Buckingham. I have resided for the previous dozen years in Buckingham. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I know the road and vicinity intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?

Provided that you do not need a mortgage, then the vast majority of the Buckingham conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your conveyancer will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but she has a professional duty to take that path of guidance. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it could be of relevance to your prospective buyer what the searches reveal. There are plenty of instances where premises with day to day issues can still reveal negative search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Buckingham will provide you some sensible guidance here.

I currently have a mortgage with Co-operative for my property in Buckingham. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Co-operative?

Your original mortgage agreement with Co-operative will provide that you need their approval before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Co-operative’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Co-operative will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Co-operative directly. You need not do this via a Co-operative conveyancing panel firm.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Buckingham. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £200. Shortly after, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nottingham panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I am selling my house. I had a double glazing fitted in September 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s lender, RBS are being pedantic. The Buckingham solicitor who is on the RBS conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but RBS are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do RBS have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that RBS have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why RBS may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

Is it simple use your search tool to get a fee calculation from a conveyancing lawyer in Buckingham on the authorised to act for my mortgage?

1st choose a mortgage company such as Santander, The Royal Bank of Scotland or Clydesdale then specify your location such as Buckingham. Conveyancing practices in Buckingham and nationally should be listed.

My uncle has recommend that I instruct his conveyancers in Buckingham. Do I take his advice?

No doubt the best way to choose a conveyancing solicitor is to have guidance from friends or family who have used the firm you're contemplating using.

Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Buckingham 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Buckingham conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

The lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Buckingham do not prevent strict prohibition on subletting – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

I invested in buying a studio flat in Buckingham, conveyancing was carried out December 2007. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar flats in Buckingham with an extended lease are worth £190,000. The ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2087

You have 62 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £17,100 and £19,800 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.