My partner and I are looking to acquire a house in Lickey End and have instructed a Lickey End conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Nationwide Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Lickey End solicitor 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 act for the purchaser's lender. 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 Lickey End solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

My fiance and I intend to remortgage our flat in Lickey End with Santander. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Santander conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his entitlement to inherit the property?

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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 Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander 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 Santander 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.

I have recentlybecome aware that Action Conveyancing have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Lickey End for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I check that the property is in my name in the name of the former proprietor?

The quickest way to see if the property is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Lickey End conveyancing specialists.

We expect to complete the sale of our £450,000 apartment in Lickey End on Thursday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Lickey End?

Lickey End conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not requires the purchaser’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address these enquiries most will be willing to assist. They are entitled to invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is above £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

I invested in buying a 2 bed flat in Lickey End, conveyancing formalities finalised 9 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent flats in Lickey End with a long lease are worth £195,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2088

You have 63 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £16,200 and £18,600 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

My mortgage broker has suggested using their property lawyer for the conveyancing in Lickey End - Is it not simpler easier to just instruct them?

This is not necessarily the case and you are free to opt for whichever solicitor you prefer for your Lickey End conveyancing. The solicitor suggested by an estate agent may not necessarily be the best conveyancer, they may put forward their preferred conveyancing firm who are based remotely. In this instance you may not have contact with your property lawyer and due to the lack of continuity in the transaction, it may be difficult to obtain progress reports.