Should lawyers request money up-front for my conveyancing in Barbican?

Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Barbican your lawyer will request that you put them with monies to cover the search fees. Generally this is requested to cover the fees of the Local Authority Search. If any down payment is as part of the sale price then this will be asked for immediately in advance of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is due will be payable shortly before completion.

We expect to receive a DIP from Kent Reliance this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Kent Reliance recommend any Barbican solicitors on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?

You will need to appoint Barbican solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Kent Reliance through the process.

I'm spending time viewing apartments in Barbican and I am about to put in an offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I am planning to take a mortgage with RBS.

You should start obtaining conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are getting a mortgage with RBS, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the RBS conveyancing panel.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Barbican. My mortgage broker suggested a lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £150. A couple of days later, the property lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Yorkshire BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

Should commercial conveyancing searches reveal impending roadworks that may impact a commercial property in Barbican?

Many commercial conveyancing solicitors in Barbican will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers expend in researching accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Barbican. The report sets out definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Barbican.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Barbican it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been addressed adequately could cause delays to Barbican commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not conducted for domestic conveyancing in Barbican.

I used Action Conveyancing a few years ago for my conveyancing in Barbican. Now, I need the files but cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?

You should call 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 Barbican 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.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one round the corner in Barbican I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Barbican suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.