I am six weeks into the sale of my home in Eastbourne and the estate agent has just telephoned to say that the purchasers are switching law firm. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a big named mortgage company only work with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Eastbourne ?

UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 15 years.

Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.

I am purchasing a new build flat in Eastbourne. Can I do my own conveyancing?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Eastbourne you will have to appoint a solicitor on your lender's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Eastbourne.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Eastbourne I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Eastbourne suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they 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 about this.

My wife and I may need to rent out our Eastbourne ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Eastbourne conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

The lease dictates the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will set out if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Eastbourne do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

Eastbourne Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Plenty Eastbourne leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Where you acquire the flat you will have to pay this contribution, normally periodically throughout the year. This could be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a ground rent to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant sum, say about £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. Be sure to investigate if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. For instance plenty of leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Eastbourne. If you love the flatin Eastbourne but your cat is not allowed to move with you then you have a very difficult decision.

I have been looking for Eastbourne conveyancing quotes online. Can I be sure that all the Eastbourne law firms that are listed on your directory are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel?

The law firms on our directory have advised us that they are on the lender panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the bank panel. To date we have not been informed by either a bank or a member of the public that the data about a specific Eastbourne firm being on the lender conveyancing panel is incorrect.