My IFA has asked me for my Longhope law firm’s panel member for the Lloyds conveyancing panel. What is the best way to discover this. I have called my local Longhope branch but they don't know it.

You are best placed to get this information from your Longhope conveyancer . They should have a central record lender panel numbers.

My grandson is about to exchange on a newly built flat in Longhope with a mortgage from Lloyds. His conveyancer has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?

The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Lloyds conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

The Longhope conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Longhope have suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a lawyer on the Lloyds conveyancing panel and my family Longhope lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for £250 in advance. What should be my next steps?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.

A colleague advised me that if I am purchasing in Longhope I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Longhope conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Longhope around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Longhope Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Longhope Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Longhope.

Are there frequently found problems that you see in leases for Longhope properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Longhope. Most leases are drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.

You may encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Chelsea Building Society, and Aldermore all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Longhope Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Who is in charge of the block? Many Longhope leasehold properties will have a service bill for the upkeep of the building set by the landlord. Where you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this contribution, normally quarterly during the year. This could vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to check as sometimes it can be surprisingly expensive. What is the length of the lease?