Do lenders provide you with an approved list of Eye conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the Skipton conveyancing panel?

Eye conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Skipton conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Skipton directly.

I have been advised by my conveyancer that flying freehold insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Eye conveyancing?

The appropriate level of flying freehold indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between Lloyds TSB Bank and Chelsea Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.

We previously appointed conveyancers locally in Eye on the Clydesdale solicitor approved list. They have just billed me an additional fee for handling the Clydesdale mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Clydesdale?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your lawyer can charge a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by Clydesdale but by your Eye lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Clydesdale panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee but some practices include it on their overall fee.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Eye. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £175. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the Santander 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 Santander 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.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Eye prior to retaining lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the property. My surveyor advised that some banks may refuse to issue a loan on this type of house.

It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Halifax. If you call us we can investigate further via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Eye. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Eye to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

My step-father has recommend that I use his lawyers for conveyancing in Eye. Do I follow his advice?

Much as we are happy to recommend a Eye conveyancing lawyer the ideal way to find a conveyancing solicitor is to have referrals from friends or family who have experience in using the solicitor that you are contemplating using.

I’m about to sell my basement flat in Eye. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, however I have recently received a half-yearly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge as usual given that all ground rent and maintenance charges will be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I invested in buying a ground floor flat in Eye, conveyancing was carried out in 2008. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar flats in Eye with a long lease are worth £227,000. The ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2097

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

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.