I chose a high street solicitor for our conveyancing in The Borough recently. Going through the Terms and Conditions it is apparent thatI am responsible for costs even if our purchase aborts. Should I ditch them and use a web based conveyancing company promoting no move no charge conveyancing in The Borough?

Generally there is a compromise along the lines that if "No Completion No Fee" is offered then the conveyancing charges will generally be higher to cover those conveyances that abort. Dont forget that these deals generally do not protect you from outlay e.g. The Borough conveyancing search charges.

I am the only recipient of my late grandmother’s estate and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in The Borough. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in November. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship will be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in November. Will no one buy the property for half a year?

The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook instructs solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be impacted by that. many banks would take a pragmatic view as this clause chiefly exists to pick up on subsales or the quick reselling of property.

I have paid off my mortgage with Aldermore. I assume I don't need a The Borough property lawyer on the Aldermore panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Aldermore mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Aldermore mortgage from the register. Aldermore, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Aldermore has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Aldermore has instructed the Land Registry to do so

After shopping around on the internet I have found a The Borough solicitor having made sure that they are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Coventry BS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Coventry BS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your solicitor will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your The Borough postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Coventry BS, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in The Borough.

Will our lawyer be raising enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in The Borough.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors specialising in conveyancing in The Borough. Plenty of people will purchase a property in The Borough, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. Steps can be carried out during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Conveyancers are not best placed to give advice on flood risk, but there are a various checks that can be carried out by the purchaser or by their lawyers which will give them a better appreciation of the risks in The Borough. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms given to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) includes a usual question of the vendor to determine whether the premises has historically flooded. In the event that flooding has previously occurred and is not revealed by the owner, then a buyer could bring a claim for damages stemming from an misleading answer. The purchaser’s lawyers should also conduct an enviro report. This should reveal if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations will need to be carried out.

I used Wolstenholmes several years past for my conveyancing in The Borough. Now, I need my documents however the law firm has closed. What do I do?

Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in The Borough of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

I have just started marketing my garden apartment in The Borough.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have recently had a yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge as you normally would as all ground rent and maintenance charges should be allottedon completion, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially