My wife and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Earlestown and are in fact using a Earlestown conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barclays have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Earlestown lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal 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 property lawyer should contact your lender 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Earlestown solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I am buying a new build apartment in Earlestown. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Earlestown

Please supply a car parking plan. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.

I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Earlestown I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Earlestown in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?

Should you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.

Am I right to be wary about brokers that I am dealing with are suggesting a web based conveyancing firm rather than a local Earlestown conveyancing company?

As is the case with many professional services, often suggestions from family and friends can be extremely useful or valuable. Nevertheless there are lots of players in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks may recommend lawyers to select. Sometimes these solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but sometimes there may be a financial incentive behind the recommendation. You are at liberty to appoint your preferred lawyer. Don't forget that most lenders specify a panel list of law firms you have to use for the mortgage related work in your house move.

My husband and I are novice buyers - agreed a price, yet the estate agent informed us that the seller will only proceed if we instruct the agent's chosen lawyers as they need an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a local conveyancer who is accustomed to conveyancing in Earlestown

We suspect that the seller is unaware of this requirement. Should the owner desire ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a genuine purchaser is likely to cause more damage than good. Avoid the agents and go straight to the owners and make sure they comprehend that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you are going to appoint your preferred Earlestown conveyancing lawyers - not the ones that will provide their estate agent a referral fee or achieve conveyancing figures pre-set by corporate headquarters.