My partner and I are looking to purchase a house in Harrow Weald and are in fact using a Harrow Weald conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Birmingham Midshires have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Harrow Weald 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 solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Harrow Weald solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Why do I have to pay up front for conveyancing in Harrow Weald?

Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Harrow Weald your lawyer will ask you place them with funds to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. When the deposit is payable against the total price then this should be needed immediately ahead of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is needed will be payable shortly before completion.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Harrow Weald?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Harrow Weald. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I am 17 days into a residential purchase having been directed to solicitors by the selling agent to do our conveyancing in Harrow Weald. I am not happy. Can you you assist me in finding new lawyers?

A conveyancer would need to be really bad in order to consider replacing them. Has the loan offer been generated? If so you must make them aware of the new contact details and ensure the offer are issued to the new lawyers. Your solicitor ideally needs to be on the mortgage company panel to avoid supplemental charges and delays. So that should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The find a solicitor tool will help you find a bank approved lawyer for your conveyancing in Harrow Weald

Due to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Harrow Weald. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Harrow Weald should include some of the following:

Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property? Whether your lease provides for a slush account for major works? The physical ownership of the property. This might be the flat itself but could also include a roof area or cellar if applicable. specifics of the parties to the lease, e.g. these could be the leaseholder, head lessor, freeholder Rent payments - what is due and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

We have reached the end of our tether in seeking a lease extension in Harrow Weald. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Harrow Weald conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Harrow Weald residence is flat 93b Welldon Crescent in May 2009. The Tribunals valuation for a 90-year lease extension of this fat was £13,171 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 75.25 years.