My wife and I are planning to buy a house in Crawcrook and have appointed a Crawcrook conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Crawcrook solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Crawcrook solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

My partner and I are refinancing our flat in Crawcrook with . We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to . This is solely used to protect if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

We are expecting a mortgage offer soon. The lender mentioned the home loan came with free conveyancing. Is the implication that I have to use their panel lawyer as I would much rather instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in Crawcrook?

You should check but the the likelihood is that appoint one of their panel lawyers should you want the "fee-free" incentive. Call the lender and see if they allow a cash alternative. It is not unheard for a lender to give a £250 cashback as an alternative in which case you could put that amount towards the cost for your conveyancing solicitor in Crawcrook.

I have justbeen informed that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Crawcrook for a purchase of a freehold house 12 months ago. How can I establish that the property is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?

The easiest method to check if the premises is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Crawcrook conveyancing specialists.

I acquired a studio flat in Crawcrook, conveyancing having been completed 3 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent properties in Crawcrook with a long lease are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 50

With only 50 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £36,100 and £41,800 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.