My mortgage broker requires my Westbury Park solicitor’s panel member for the HSBC conveyancing panel. What is the best way to discover this. I have e-mailed my local Westbury Park branch but they have not responded to me.

You are best placed to get this information from your Westbury Park . They retain a central record lender panel numbers.

When can the exchange of contracts take place for residential conveyancing in Westbury Park and do I need to be at the lawyers office?

Where you are local to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Westbury Park you are invited in to sign contracts. However, the firms we recommend offer a nationwide conveyancing service and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The signing of the sale agreement is not the important part. A signed contract simply enables the firm to officially exchange when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a long "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Westbury Park)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.

My apartment in Westbury Park is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Does the need to be on the conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently currently.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one close by in Westbury Park I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Westbury Park suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?

Should you need a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.

I have recently realised that I have Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Westbury Park. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Westbury Park.

I own a 1 bedroom flat in Westbury Park, conveyancing having been completed in 1995. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Equivalent flats in Westbury Park with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 50

With 50 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £36,100 and £41,800 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure 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 concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.