My husband and I have arranged the release of further monies on our home loan from HSBC as we intend to carry out improvements to our property in Redbridge. Are we obliged to select a nearby Redbridge solicitor on the HSBC conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?

HSBC do not ordinarily instruct firms on their approved list of lawyers to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the HSBC conveyancing panel.

The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Redbridge. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?

Almost all lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.

I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Redbridge. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Soon after, the solicitor called me to say that they were not on the Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale 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.

I have been told that property searches are the number one reason for stalling in Redbridge house deals. Is this right?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the common causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Redbridge.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Redbridge?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Redbridge. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

Are there any apps to help identify a Redbridge law firm on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel upto 25kilometers to meet the conveyancer.

You can use the facility on this page. Please choose the bank and your location and you will see a number of Redbridge conveyancing lawyers based on proximity. We have detailed some Redbridge conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can telephone them to see if they are on the Nottingham Building Society member panel

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in Redbridge. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you discharge the maintenance contribution as normal because all ground rent and service payments will be allotted on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Redbridge. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the premium.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Redbridge residence is 59 & 59a Clarendon Gardens in February 2014. The Tribunals valuation for the freehold was £30,073.00 The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 65 and 61.