The Birchington conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Birchington have suddenly shut down. I chose them because I needed a firm on the Skipton conveyancing panel and my preferred Birchington lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What should be my next steps?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Skipton conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to assist.

We are purchasing a house in Birchington. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? On completion day we have to put money into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

Do I choose a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in Birchington?

There are many registered licenced Conveyancers in Birchington and Solicitor practices in Birchington to choose from We would stress that the two are regulated professionals specialising in the legal work in transferring property. The two can conduct other property legal work such as remortgage conveyancing, enfranchisement and transfer of equity conveyancing.

I'm the only recipient of my late grandmother’s estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Birchington. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in November. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship could be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in November. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?

The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be affected by that. Some lenders would take a practical view as this obligation is chiefly there to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of properties.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Birchington with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my lawyer about the deal as it could impact my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Birchington is where the house is located. What do you suggest?

Flying freeholds in Birchington are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Birchington you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Birchington may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Birchington where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Birchington conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I bought a garden flat in Birchington, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Birchington with a long lease are worth £176,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2104

With 80 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £8,600 and £9,800 plus legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.