Completed the sale of my flat in Haydon Bridge last June yet the purchaser is telephoning me to moan that her solicitor needs to hear from mylawyer. What should my lawyer have done following completion?

Following your sale your conveyancer should send the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. Where appropriate, your solicitor should also send confirmation that the mortgage has been redeemed to the purchasers conveyancers. There is unlikely to be post completion procedures unique to conveyancing in Haydon Bridge.

My friend suggested that if I am purchasing in Haydon Bridge I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Haydon Bridge conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Haydon Bridge around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Haydon Bridge Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Haydon Bridge Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Haydon Bridge.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Haydon Bridge?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Haydon Bridge. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I am looking for a conveyancing lawyer in Haydon Bridge for my home move. Can I review a solicitor's complaints history with the profession’s regulator?

You can read documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations stemming from investigations from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For details about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a solicitors record, phone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. For non-uk callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could recorded call for training reasons.

Should local authority consent be needed to convert a house into two appartments in Haydon Bridge? This has taken place to a house next door to my house in Haydon Bridge and was ignorant of it happening until after the works were finished.

Planning permission is necessary for converting a single house in Haydon Bridge into flats but possibly not for converting back to single dwelling-house so, in answer to your question, yes.