It is a dozen years since I acquired my house in Wirral. Conveyancing solicitors have just been appointed on the sale but I am unable to find the title deeds. Is this a problem?

You need not be too concerned. Firstly the deeds may be with your mortgage company or they may be archived with the lawyers who handled your purchase. Secondly in most cases the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Wirral involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.

My Solicitor in Wirral is not listed on the Approved Panel. Can I still use my prefered solicitor even though they are excluded from the panel?

Your options are as follows:

1. Complete the purchase with your existing Wirral solicitors but will need to use a solicitor on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing fees and result in delays.
2. Choose a new solicitor to act in the conveyancing, remembering to check they are approved.
3. Try to convince your solicitor to seek to join the panel

I used Arc property Solicitors several years ago for my conveyancing in Wirral. Now, I need my documents but the law firm has closed. What do I do?

You should 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 Wirral of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

I am purchasing a new build house in Wirral with a mortgage from . The developers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not inform my conveyancer about the deal as it could put at risk my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one close by in Wirral I like with open areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 years on the lease. There is not much else in Wirral in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?

Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension 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 speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.