I was notified today by my lender that my Crowland lawyer is not on the bank Solicitor panel. What can I do to be sure that this is correct?

The best course of action for you to take is to call your Crowland conveyancer. You lawyer should inform you of the situation. If they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.

It is 10 years ago since I purchased my property in Crowland. Conveyancing solicitors have just been appointed on the sale but I can't track down my title deeds. Will this cause complications?

You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be kept by the lender or they could be in the possession of the conveyancers who handled your purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers procuring current official copies of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Crowland relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more problematic but is resolvable.

I have been told that property searches are a common reason for hinderance in Crowland house deals. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the findings of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to feature in any holding up conveyancing in Crowland.

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Crowland I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 51 years on the lease. There is not much else in Crowland suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

I have been told by numerous estate agents to expect six to eight weeks for Crowland conveyancing to complete.This was a month ago. The property information was only received from the vendors conveyancing practitioner last week so does the time start running now?

You need to be realistic concerning timelines. Conveyancing in Crowland takes on average about ten weeks. This time period is not because solicitor are slow and purposely delay matters. The level of money involved in buying any property is so high, the buyer’s conveyancing practitioner having to raise a whole range of enquiries, searches and further checks to protect the buyer and their mortgage company (if there is to be a mortgage) from expensive, avoidable problems. Conveyancing in Crowland involves getting information from various third parties, for example other conveyancer, local councils, private companies, building societies and banks. Some of these are efficient. Others aren't. Finally, it doesn't matter how quickly your conveyancer do their work, if the people you are purchasing from or are selling to aren't ready, nothing can go ahead until they are.