My wife and I are looking to purchase a flat in Bury St Edmunds and have instructed a Bury St Edmunds conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. TSB have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Bury St Edmunds solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Bury St Edmunds lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Should commercial conveyancing searches disclose planned roadworks that could affect a commercial premises in Bury St Edmunds?

Many commercial conveyancing solicitors in Bury St Edmunds will conduct a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers expend in looking into accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Bury St Edmunds. The search result provides definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Bury St Edmunds.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Bury St Edmunds it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately could cause delays to Bury St Edmunds commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not conducted for residential conveyancing in Bury St Edmunds.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Bury St Edmunds?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Bury St Edmunds. 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 am purchasing my first flat in Bury St Edmunds with a mortgage from Leeds Building Society. The developers would not move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The house builders rep advised me not to tell my solicitor about this deal as it may adversely affect my loan with Leeds Building Society. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Bury St Edmunds where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Bury St Edmunds conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I inherited a ground floor flat in Bury St Edmunds, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Bury St Edmunds with an extended lease are worth £227,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease expires on 21st October 2098

You have 72 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

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 comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.