Me and my fiance are planning to acquire a 2 bedroom flat in Lydney with a mortgage. We would like to retain our Lydney solicitor, however the bank advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel conveyancing practices or keep our Lydney conveyancer as well as pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. This feels very unfair; can we not require that the lender use our Lydney property lawyer ?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’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 Lydney conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Lydney last July yet the purchaser is SMS messaging every few hours to say his lawyer needs to hear from myconveyancer. What are the post completion sale formalities now that I have sold?

After completion of your disposal your conveyancer should deliver the transfer deeds and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer must also confirm that the home loan has been paid off to the buyers lawyers. There are no post completion steps unique to conveyancing in Lydney.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Lydney. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Lydney

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme.

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Lydney. Before diving in I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Lydney - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Lydney - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

It is important to be aware whether a new roof is being put on or some other major work is anticipated that will be shared between the tenants and could well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance fees or necessitate a one off payment. Can you inform me if there are any major works on the horizon that will add a premium to the service costs?

A licensed conveyancer handled my conveyancing in Lydney 5 years ago having stored my title documents but has since been shut down – how do I retreive them?

Title deeds, as such, no longer exist as most homes in Lydney are archived digitally at Land Registry. Where you need to show evidence of proprietorship or are selling or refinancing your conveyancing practitioner should obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.

If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned with reasonable haste.