My wife and I are buying a 3 bedroom flat in Eltham with a mortgage. We have a Eltham solicitor, however the bank advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the lender panel firms or keep our Eltham and pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We consider that this is unjust; are we not able to insist that the mortgage company use our Eltham ?

Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Eltham conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

My wife and I are buying a property in Eltham. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we will need to send our life savings into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our money?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

I am helping my niece sell her house in Eltham. Will the solicitor commission the energy assessment or it is for the seller to see to?

After the demise of Home Packs, EPC’s became a required part of selling a house. An energy performance certificate should be commissioned prior to the property being placed on the market. This is not as aspect of the sale process that solicitors normally arrange. Where you are instructing a Eltham conveyancing solicitor they may be able to arrange energy performance certificates given their contacts with long established Eltham assessors

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Eltham. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £200. A few days later, the contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the 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 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'm buying my first flat in Eltham with a loan from . The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my conveyancer about this extras as it may impact my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 looking for a flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in Eltham I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Eltham suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in Eltham. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, however I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is pay the maintenance contribution as normal given that all ground rent and maintenance charges should be allotted on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Eltham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

The majority of Eltham leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the landlord. If you purchase the property you will have to meet this contribution, normally in instalments accross the year. This could differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because on occasion it could be many hundreds of pounds. How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the flat? Does the lease include onerous restrictions?