I have just been advised by my lender that my Newbiggin By The Sea property lawyer is not on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. What can I do to check?

The best course of action for you to take is to contact your Newbiggin By The Sea conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to notify you of the situation. If they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the conveyancing panel for your lender.

Do I have to have a meeting at the offices of the solicitor to sign the mortgage deed? If so, I will appoint a lawyer who conducts conveyancing in Newbiggin By The Sea so that I can attend their offices when needed.

Whereas this was necessary 15 years ago, the vast majority banks no longer oblige their conveyancing panel solicitor to witness the mortgagors signature. You will still be obliged to supply identification documents and there are still manifest benefits to using a local ayer, in your situation a conveyancing solicitor in Newbiggin By The Sea.

We are intent on selling our house in Newbiggin By The Sea and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers are using a national conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Newbiggin By The Sea. Having lived in Newbiggin By The Sea for 5 years we know of no issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain confirmation that the buyers are looking for.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor already. Are they able to advise? You need to 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 ailment)

I have just started marketing my basement apartment in Newbiggin By The Sea. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, however I have just had a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you pay the invoice as usual as all ground rent and service invoices will be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I invested in buying a basement flat in Newbiggin By The Sea, conveyancing formalities finalised 8 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Newbiggin By The Sea with a long lease are worth £181,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease expires on 21st October 2076

With just 51 years left to run the likely cost is going to range between £30,400 and £35,200 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

I bought a property in Newbiggin By The Sea last 9/9/2024 and to date it is still not registered with HMLR. It is part of a development site and my solicitor told me that it can take 12 months to register. I have called HM Land Registry directly and they say that the original application was cancelled due to questions not being addressed in time. Do I need to be concerned?

It is your lawyer that you must contact in order to satisfy any concerns which have been raised as part of the registration process for your Newbiggin By The Sea property. Normal Newbiggin By The Sea conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the previous owner’s conveyancing practitioner that they will help resolve any question raised by HMLR so it may be a case of seeking to enforce that undertaking if necessary.