I am buying a property without a mortgage in Kenilworth. I have been living for the previous 15 years in Kenilworth. Conveyancing searches are expensive. Given that I have knowledge of the area and road intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?

If you not getting a mortgage, then the vast majority of the Kenilworth conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your solicitor will try and sway you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but he has a professional duty to take that path of encouragement . One thing to consider; if you are going to sell the house in the future, it could be of interest to your prospective purchaser what the searches determine. On occasion houses with apparent issues can still throw up unfavourable search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Kenilworth should be able to give you some helpful advice in this regard.

My partner and I are selling our home in Kenilworth and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. Any local lawyer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers instructed a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Kenilworth. We have lived in Kenilworth for three years we know of no issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain confirmation that there is no issue.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm already. Are they able to advise? You should check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same sickness)

Me and my brother own a terraced Georgian house in Kenilworth. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Britannia. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Kenilworth and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Kenilworth where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Kenilworth conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Kenilworth Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying

Are there any major works in the planning that will increase the service fees? Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability? Most Kenilworth leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Should you acquire the property you will have to meet this amount, normally quarterly during the year. This can vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to check as sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds.

I have noted on numerous consumer advice websites that before choosing a conveyancing solicitors they need approved by your lender. This is my first home move but I have an AIP from Santander and I already have a family conveyancing lawyer in Kenilworth on standby. Does HSBC need an approved lawyer to be instructed? Does a list of panel conveyancers even exist for my conveyancing in Kenilworth?

You need to use a solicitor that is on the HSBC panel. Just telephone your preferred Kenilworth conveyancing lawyer to check if they are on the HSBC panel. If they are not approved you have a couple of options available to you here:

• Complete the purchase with your chosen Kenilworth lawyer but HSBC will no doubt retain a conveyancing practitioner on their approved panel. This will result in additional charges and probable interruption.
• Get a fresh property lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the HSBC conveyancing panel.
• Convince your conveyancer to seek to join the lender panel.