My partner and I are looking to purchase a property in Buckingham and have appointed a Buckingham conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Lloyds TSB Bank have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Buckingham solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?

If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Buckingham lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Buckingham?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Buckingham. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Buckingham. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Buckingham

There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Please supply a car parking plan. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry.

Am I better off to choose a Buckingham conveyancing practitioner who is local to the property I am buying? An old friend can carry out the legal formalities but they are based approximately 350kilometers away.

The benefit of a local Buckingham conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to execute documents, hand in your ID and pester them if necessary. Having local Buckingham know how is a plus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust used your friend and the majority were content that must outweigh using an unfamiliar Buckingham conveyancing solicitor just because they are based in the area.

If instructed can a conveyancer remove someone from the title of my home in Buckingham ?

Extracting or adding someone to the title of your house is relatively straightforward. You’ll need to appoint a property lawyer to discuss your legal rights before you can proceed with a transfer of property. Contact us to book a free consultation with one a property lawyer