My partner and I are hoping to buy a house in Totton and are in fact using a Totton conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Clydesdale have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Totton lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 property lawyer 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Totton solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I am buying a property mortgage free in Totton. I have resided for the last twelve years in Totton. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I have knowledge of the road and vicinity very well must I have all the conveyancing searches?

If you not getting a mortgage, then almost all of the Totton conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your lawyer will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but he has a professional duty to do this. Do consider; if you are intend to sell the house at a future date, it will likely be be of importance to your future purchaser what the searches determine. There are plenty of instances where houses with day to day issues can still reveal adverse search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Totton should provide you some helpful advice concerning this.

Various web forums that I have visited warn that are the main reason for obstruction in Totton house deals. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the common causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Totton.

I am looking for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Totton I like with open areas and railway links nearby, however it only has 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Totton in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Totton. Before diving in I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Totton - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I purchased a garden flat in Totton, conveyancing was carried out November 2006. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Totton with a long lease are worth £227,000. The ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2097

With just 72 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.