My wife and I are buying a 1 bedroom apartment in Langley with a mortgage. We like our Langley lawyer, but the lender advise he's not on their "panel". It seems we have no option but to instruct one of the mortgage company panel firms or continue with our Langley conveyancer and pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. This seems very unfair; are we not able to require that the bank use our Langley property lawyer ?

Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Langley conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

My husband and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Langley with Principality. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Principality conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Principality conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Principality. This is solely used to protect Principality if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Principality had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

The deeds to my house can not be found. The conveyancers who dealt with the conveyancing in Langley 4 years ago no longer exist. Will I be able to sell the house?

Gone are the days when you need to have the physical deeds to evidence that you are the registered proprietor of land or premises, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

Planning to complete next month on a garden flat in Langley. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Langley should include some of the following:

Repair and maintenance of the premises The landlord’s rights to access the flat. You should be made aware that your landlord has rights of access as well as be informed how much notice must be provided. It needs to be made clear to you if the lease permits you to change or improve aspects of the flat- you should know whether any restrictions relates to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required Are pets allowed in the flat?

I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Langley. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for a lease extension?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Langley conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Langley property is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 69 years.

I'm purchasing a house in Langley. I have found my conveyancer's company on the CLC list, but I can't locate my lawyer's name on the list. Is this a big problem?

Not all staff in the company must be listed by the regulator. Provided there is someone qualified to 'oversee' the work, the actual day-to-day activity can be undertaken by unlicensed staff.