My husband and I are hoping to purchase a flat in Morpeth and are in fact using a Morpeth conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Coventry Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Morpeth lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Accreditation 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 and you may continue to use your own Morpeth solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

My conveyancer has identified a a problem with the lease for the property we are buying in Morpeth. The seller’s lawyers have suggested title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will cover the costs. Our conveyancing practitioner has advised that he must check that the bank is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?

Notwithstanding that you have a mortgage offer from the bank does not mean to say that the property will meet their conditions for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. You and the mortgage company are the client. The appropriate lender provisions must be adhered to.

The Morpeth conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Morpeth have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a lawyer on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my previous Morpeth lawyer was not. I sent them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist.

How do I identify a Morpeth solicitor on the National Westminster Bank conveyancing panel? I drive a motor bike and am willing to travel upto 20miles to meet the conveyancer.

Feel free to make use of the tool on this page. Please pick a bank and your location and you will see a number of Morpeth conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Morpeth conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can call them to verify if they are on the National Westminster Bank member panel

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Morpeth what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Morpeth is not unique. Most leases are drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain sections are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

A duty to insure the building

You will encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. National Westminster Bank, Coventry Building Society, and Aldermore all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

I acquired a ground floor flat in Morpeth, conveyancing formalities finalised March 1997. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar properties in Morpeth with a long lease are worth £206,000. The ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 2091

You have 66 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.