My partner and I are buying a newly constructed apartment in Sedbergh and my solicitor is informing me that she has to the bank to disclose incentives from the seller. I am on a tight deadline to exchange and I don't want to delay the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancer. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

Having sold my house in Sedbergh last May yet the purchaser is SMS messaging every few hours to moan that their conveyancer is waiting to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale legalities following completion?

After completion of your sale your lawyer should send the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the purchaser's lawyers. Where appropriate, your conveyancer should also send confirmation that the home loan has been paid off to the buyers solicitors. There are no post completion formalities specific conveyancing in Sedbergh.

We are selling our apartment in Sedbergh. Does my solicitor need to be required to be on the Co-operative conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Co-operative conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently currently.

Various online forums that I have come across warn that are the main cause of hinderance in Sedbergh conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the most frequent causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are not likely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Sedbergh.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £175,000 garden flat in Sedbergh in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Sedbergh?

Sedbergh conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually involves the purchaser’s conveyancer 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 levy a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it exceeds £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

I invested in buying a garden flat in Sedbergh, conveyancing having been completed June 2002. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Sedbergh with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2094

You have 69 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.