My husband and I are hoping to buy a property in Crowthorne and are in fact using a Crowthorne conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Crowthorne solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Crowthorne lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

I am hoping to complete my purchase in Crowthorne next Thursday. I have now been asked to send a copy of my building insurance schedule by my solicitor as as she informs me that she is duty bound to validate that it is in order for the bank. What does the insurance need to cover?

Any lawyer on acting for lenders would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in a lender’s Part 2 instructions. These obligations are not specific to conveyancing in Crowthorne.

Are the Crowthorne conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Barclays conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Barclays?

Crowthorne conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Barclays conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Barclays directly.

I have a renovated Victorian property in Crowthorne. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Chelsea Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Crowthorne and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.

Last July I purchased a leasehold flat in Crowthorne. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Crowthorne Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

What is the name of the managing agents? How many years remain on the lease? Make sure you investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For instance some leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Crowthorne. If you like the apartmentin Crowthorne however your cat can’t make the move with you then you have a very hard choice.