My partner and I are looking to purchase a property in Gospel Oak and have instructed a Gospel Oak conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Gospel Oak solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Gospel Oak lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Gospel Oak? Why is this being asked of me?

It is indeed that case that these requests have nothing to do with conveyancing in Gospel Oak. Nowadays you will not be able to complete any conveyancing process if you have not handing over evidence of your identity. This usually takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence plus a bank statement. Please note that if you are providing your driving licence as proof of identification it needs to be both the paper element and photo card part, one is not satisfactory without the other.

Proof of the origin of funds is necessary in accordance with the Money Laundering Regulations. Don’t be offended when you are asked to produce this as your conveyancer will need to have this information on record. Your Gospel Oak conveyancing solicitor will need to see evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any monies from you into their client account and they will also ask additional questions concerning the source of funds.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our property are lost. The conveyancers who conducted the conveyancing in Gospel Oak 4 years ago no longer exist. What are my next steps?

Assuming you have a registered title the details of your ownership will be documented by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to execute a search at the Land Registry, find your property and order up to date copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a certified copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.

Am I best advised to choose a Gospel Oak conveyancing lawyer based in the vicinity that I am purchasing? An old friend can deal with the legal formalities however his firm is located 400kilometers away.

The benefit of a high street Gospel Oak conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute paperwork, present your identification documents and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and in the main were content that should outweigh using an unfamiliar Gospel Oak conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being round the corner.

I have recently realised that I have Seventy years remaining on my lease in Gospel Oak. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the landlord. On the whole a specialist would be useful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Gospel Oak.

I inherited a 2 bed flat in Gospel Oak, conveyancing was carried out in 1995. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable properties in Gospel Oak with a long lease are worth £165,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 50

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

The figure that we have given is 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 investigations. 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 clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.