My wife and I are planning to buy a flat in Faringdon and are in fact using a Faringdon conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Halifax have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Faringdon conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional 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 Accreditation 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Faringdon solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Are the BSA intent on creating a searchable register to to identify practices on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel for instance in Faringdon?

Lexsure has not been advised of any intention on the part of the BSA to promote such a search facility.

What is the difference between a licensed conveyancer and conveyancing solicitor in Faringdon

There are many registered licenced Conveyancers in Faringdon and Solicitor partnerships in Faringdon who provide Conveyancing services We would stress that the two are supervised by regulatory bodies with both specialising in the legal work in the home buying process. They may both also deal with other property legal work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.

Is it the case that all Faringdon CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Principality conveyancing panel?

A selection of banks and building societies now make use of CQS as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to join their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.

I have a mortgage with RBS for my property in Faringdon. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform RBS?

RBS must be informed of your intention before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of RBS’s mortgage conditions. It may be that RBS will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact RBS directly. You need not do this via a RBS conveyancing panel lawyer.

How does conveyancing in Faringdon differ for new build properties?

Most buyers of new build residence in Faringdon come to us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is built. This is because house builders in Faringdon tend to purchase the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Faringdon or who has acted in the same development.

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Faringdon where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Faringdon conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

I invested in buying a basement flat in Faringdon, conveyancing having been completed in 2004. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Corresponding flats in Faringdon with a long lease are worth £181,000. The ground rent is £55 invoiced every year. The lease ends on 21st October 2074

You have 50 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £32,300 and £37,400 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.