I am in the process of selling my ground floor flat in Gosport and the estate agent has just called to warn that the purchasers are swapping law firm. The excuse is that the bank will only engage with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a leading lender only work with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Gosport ?

Banks have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 25 years.

Banks point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any impact on this.

Me and my partner are purchasing a house in Gosport. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a conveyancer? On completion day we have to put our life savings 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 have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Co-operative. I assume I don't need a Gosport conveyancer on the Co-operative panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Co-operative mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Co-operative mortgage from the register. Co-operative, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Co-operative has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Co-operative has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Gosport. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A few days later, the property lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the TSB conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the TSB panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I used Stirling Law several years ago for my conveyancing in Gosport. I now require my papers however the law firm has closed. What do I do?

You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Gosport of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

Should I be suspicious that brokers that I am dealing with are recommending a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street Gosport conveyancing firm?

As with many professional services, often recommendations from connections can be worth their weight in gold. But there are many parties with a vested interest in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, mortgage brokers and lenders may suggest conveyancers to retain. On occasion the lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but occasionally there behind the scenes financial incentive behind the recommendation. You are at liberty to appoint your own lawyer. However, bear in mind that most banks operate an approved list of law firms you must use for the mortgage related work in your house move.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Gosport. Conveyancing and Bank of Ireland mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Gosport who previously acted has now retired. Any advice?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Gosport conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I inherited a 1st floor flat in Gosport, conveyancing was carried out 6 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Gosport with an extended lease are worth £211,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2091

You have 67 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £10,500 and £12,000 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.