The Much Wenlock conveyancing firm that just started acting on my purchase in Much Wenlock have suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and my previous Much Wenlock lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would 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 Virgin Money 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 assist.

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

A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Much Wenlock conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Much Wenlock around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Much Wenlock Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Much Wenlock Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Much Wenlock.

I am purchasing my first flat in Much Wenlock with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The sale representative advised me not reveal to my solicitor about the deal as it will jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 am looking for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Much Wenlock I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Much Wenlock for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?

If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Much Wenlock from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Much Wenlock can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ conveyancers.
A minority of Much Wenlock leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors. If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Much Wenlock home move. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Much Wenlock leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you fail to have the consents to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance. If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

I inherited a garden flat in Much Wenlock, conveyancing was carried out May 1997. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Much Wenlock with an extended lease are worth £260,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2099

With just 74 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.