The Exmouth conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Exmouth have without warning shut down. I chose them because I had to have a firm on the conveyancing panel and my preferred Exmouth lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What are my options?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist.

I used Wolstenholmes several years ago for my conveyancing in Exmouth. Now, I need my documents however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?

You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Exmouth of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

I was advised by a number of selling agents in Exmouth to locate a property lawyer on your site. Is there a financial advantage for Estate Agents to market your lawyers rather than a competitor’s?

We don’t make any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers to this site. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

As co-executor for the estate of my grandmother I am disposing of a residence in Newport but reside in Exmouth. My lawyer (based 260 kilometers awayhas requested that I execute a stat dec ahead of completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Exmouth who can attest and place their company stamp on the document?

Technically speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are based in Exmouth

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in Exmouth. Conveyancing and mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Exmouth who previously acted has now retired. Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Exmouth conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am the registered owner of a studio flat in Exmouth, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent properties in Exmouth with an extended lease are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease terminates on 21st October 50

You have 50 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £36,100 and £41,800 plus legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.