I was referred a solicitor who has sent a quote for £995 for no sale no fee conveyancing in Dover. I am looking to sell a purpose built property for £300,000. This seems over the top. Is it above what I should be paying for conveyancing in Dover?

The quote is fractionally on the expensive side. If you shop around you could get the conveyancing a bit cheaper by perhaps £100 plus VAT. That being said, you maycome to rue choosing an an untested solicitor. If is important to enquire that the conveyancer can also act for your lender. Do utilise our search tool to select a Dover conveyancing company on the banks member panel which can often include conveyancing solicitors in Dover.

My husband and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Dover with Bank of Ireland. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his rights to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Bank of Ireland. This is solely used to protect Bank of Ireland if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Bank of Ireland had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

The Dover conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my purchase in Dover have suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a lawyer on the Santander conveyancing panel and my family Dover lawyer was not. I sent them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Santander 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 solicitors should be in a position to help.

This question may be naive but I am new to the house moving as a 1st time buyer of a two bedroom flat in Dover. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will use a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Dover?

On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Dover. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the completion advance to the seller's solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be invited to receive the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.

I am planning to move property in December. Will my conveyancing solicitor communicate with the removal company on the completion day. Incidentally, can you recommend a removal company in Dover. Conveyancing lawyer was chosen before I stumbled across your site.

On the day of completion you can collect the house keys from your property agent however this can only be done after the sellers lawyers advise the agent that they have the completion monies and the keys can be collected. You can advise the removal company that you are ready to move in. We are not in a position to recommend a particular removal organisation but can help you locate a residential property solicitor in Dover or a legal practice with expertise in conveyancing in Dover.

Please help - my lawyer says that lack of building regulations insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Dover?

The appropriate level of lack of building regulations indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Nationwide Building Society and Barnsley Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to meet my requirements, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since found out that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Dover. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Dover ?

Most houses in Dover are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Dover in which case you should be shopping around for a Dover conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as requiring the landlord’spermission to conduct alterations. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the property is located on an estate. Your lawyer will appraise you on the various issues.

I am the registered owner of a 1 bedroom flat in Dover, conveyancing formalities finalised April 1997. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Dover with an extended lease are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2095

With 71 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.