We are buying a flat in Hoole. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? On the day of competition we will need to send money into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?

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.

My uncle informed me that in buying a property in Hoole there could be various restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external alterations to the property. Is this right?

There are a number of properties in Hoole which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Hoole should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Hoole. My financial adviser suggested a solicitor. I paid an advanced payment of £200. A few days later, the lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society 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.

My colleague suggested that if I am buying in Hoole I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Hoole conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Hoole around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Hoole Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Hoole Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Hoole.

I used Stirling Law a few years ago for my conveyancing in Hoole. I now require my papers but cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?

You should contact 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 Hoole of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Hoole is where the house is located. Can you offer any advice?

Flying freeholds in Hoole are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Hoole you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Hoole may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Hoole from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hoole can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
The majority of freeholders or Management Companies in Hoole levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hoole. Some Hoole leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers. If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Hoole state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Where you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor before hand.

I inherited a garden flat in Hoole, conveyancing was carried out in 2000. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar properties in Hoole with an extended lease are worth £227,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease ends on 21st October 2097

With 72 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional 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 without first seeking the advice of a professional.