I was advised recently by my lender that my Garstang property lawyer is not on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. How can I check?

The first thing you need to do is to call your Garstang conveyancer. You lawyer should advise you of the situation. If they are not on the panel they may be able to suggest a Garstang conveyancing practice that is on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.

Me and my partner are purchasing a apartment in Garstang. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we have to send money into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

I am assisting my sister sell her property in Garstang. Will the conveyancing solicitor order the energy assessment or do I organise this?

Following the abolition of HIPs, energy performance certificates remained a mandatory element of selling a property. An energy performance certificate must be commissioned before the property is placed on the market. It is not a task that conveyancers ordinarily organise. Where you are using a Garstang conveyancing solicitor they may be able to arrange energy performance certificates due to their contacts with reputable local energy assessors

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Garstang conveyancer having made sure that they are on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

HSBC will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually HSBC will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Garstang surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Garstang I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Garstang in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?

If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Garstang where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Garstang conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 purchased a leasehold flat in Garstang, conveyancing having been completed 5 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar properties in Garstang with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease runs out on 21st October 2093

With only 69 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

I have miscalculated my finances and am a few grand short a 10% deposit on my flat purchase in Garstang , but I am anxious proceed. What can I do?

You can agree a lesser deposit. Most property owners will accept a lesser deposit or even no deposit for a first time buyer or 100% mortgage. Be aware though that if you fail to complete you will still need to hand over a minimum of 10% of the purchase price regardless of how much deposit was agreed.

You can also agree a simultaneous exchange and completion as no deposit is required for this however neither party will be tied in until completion actually takes place and it can be risky if sellers change their mind at the last moment