My husband and I are planning to purchase a home in Macclesfield and have appointed a Macclesfield conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Norwich and Peterborough Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Macclesfield lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?

Where you are buying a property with the assistance of 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 property lawyer should contact your lender 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Macclesfield solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

The owners have rather brash sellers who has recommended a exclusivity contract with a down payment 6,000. Is it wise to enter into such agreements?

There are a couple of primary downsides with executing a lock out agreement (occasionally referred to as a shut-out contract) is that it takes away the focus from moving forward with the conveyancing work, so in the absence of it needing limited or no negotiation then it may turn out to be unhelpful. It is not particularly popular by Macclesfield conveyancing practitioners for this reason. A further issue is the extent of the remedies available - an aggrieved purchaser is not likely to be issued with injunctive relief to prohibit the seller completing the sale to a third party, so the only remedy available under the agreement will be the reimbursement of wasted charges and, in rare circumstances, the additional payment of damages.

I am 17 days into a leasehold purchase having been referred to solicitors by the local agent to execute conveyancing in Macclesfield. I am am very frustrated with the quality of service. Can you you assist me in finding new lawyers?

They would have to be very poor in order to consider changing them. Has the mortgage offer been generated? If so you must advise them of the new contact details and have the loan are issued to the new lawyers. The conveyancer needs to be on the lenders panel to avoid added costs and delays. That should be your starting point. Our search tool should help you find a bank approved solicitor for your conveyancing in Macclesfield

I work for a busy estate agent office in Macclesfield where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Macclesfield conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Macclesfield - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Is the freehold owned jointly by the tenants? On the whole the cost for major works are not wrapped into the service charges, although a few managing agents in Macclesfield ask leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for major works. Many Macclesfield leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building levied on behalf of the management company. If you acquire the property you will have to meet this liability, normally periodically accross the year. This may vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to check as occasionally it could be surprisingly expensive.

Our lender agreed in principle to grant us a mortgage. We appointed a high street conveyancer in Macclesfield yesterday. Today, our mortgage adviser phoned to advise us that the bank said that we cannot use our solicitor as they aren't on their panel. As novices, we had no idea that the bank had some control over our choice Is this permitted?

You are permitted to use any conveyancing solicitor you wish to choose for your conveyancing in Macclesfield however if your bank aren't happy with them you must incur additional cost so the bank can appoint their own conveyancer too. It may be conceivable that your preferred conveyancing firm to get added to the lender list of approved firms. You can use internet tools such as lenderpanel.com to find a conveyancing solcitor in Macclesfield on the bank panel. You can go into your local bank branch in Macclesfield. They can recommend conveyancing solicitors in Macclesfield on the approved list.