My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a home in Shirley and are in fact using a Shirley conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Leeds Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Shirley conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Shirley solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Are the BSA planning on creating a online directory to to identify practices on the Melton Mowbray Building Society conveyancing panel for instance in Shirley?

We have not been informed any plans on the part of the BSA to develop such a register.

About to purchase a new build flat in Shirley. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Shirley

Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Please supply a car parking plan. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Shirley which have approximately fifty years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena.

My wife and I have hit a brick wall in seeking a lease extension in Shirley. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Shirley flat is 29 Woodstock Road in April 2014. the Tribunal determined that the premiums to be paid into court in respect of the purchase of the freehold registered at HMLR under Title N0.SY3997 should be £7,217. This case was in relation to 4 flats. The unexpired lease term was 98 years.

Me and my wife are disposing of a Shirley property left to us seven years ago in 2012. I have over a decades worth of conveyancing experience and, although retired, wish to carry out my own legal work. The purchaser's conveyancer has informed me that their mortgage company will not allow you to do your own conveyancing insisting the funds to be transferred to a solicitor's bank account.

Lending instructions to property lawyers from all mainstream lenders state that If the vendor is not legally represented the purchaser’s lawyers should check whether the mortgage company needs to be told so that a decision can be made as to whether or not they are willing to proceed.