I have been recommended a conveyancing solicitor in Maidenbower. I I would like to check if they are accepted on the Birmingham Midshires approved list of lawyers. Can you or the lender confirm if they are on the panel?

The first thing to do is contact the conveyancer and ask them if they can act for the bank. Alternatively you can call Birmingham Midshires who may be able to confirm.

I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in Maidenbower off the council. I have a mortgage offer with Coventry BS. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Coventry BS, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Maidenbower. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an on account payment of £225. A few days later, the conveyancer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Kent Reliance panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I have instructed a Maidenbower solicitor having made sure that they are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Leeds Building Society will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Leeds Building Society will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Maidenbower surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

What can a local search reveal regarding the property my wife and I purchasing in Maidenbower?

Maidenbower conveyancing often commences with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations such as Searches UK The local search plays a central part in many a Maidenbower conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search should reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic headings.

I am buying my first flat in Maidenbower with a mortgage from Godiva Mortgages Ltd. The sellers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my solicitor about the side-deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Maidenbower where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Maidenbower conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I inherited a 2 bed flat in Maidenbower, conveyancing was carried out 3 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Maidenbower with a long lease are worth £171,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2104

With 79 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.