My wife and I are hoping to acquire a home in Shoeburyness and are in fact using a Shoeburyness conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Barnsley Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Shoeburyness lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Shoeburyness lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

IfI were to buy a simple residential propertyin Shoeburyness mortgage fee and dispense with a survey and no conveyancing searches how much could I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Shoeburyness?

Any savings you would gain will be isolated to the Shoeburyness conveyancing searches. The conveyancer is obliged to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, correspond with the sellers conveyancer, SDLT submission, register the ownership etc. A slight saving might be made by not needing to register a charge but it will not be meaningful.

Having sold my house in Shoeburyness last July yet the purchaser is e-mailing daily to say his lawyer needs to hear from myconveyancer. What should my lawyer have done now that I have sold?

Following your house sale your solicitor should forward the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. If applicable, your lawyer must also confirm that the mortgage has been redeemed to the buyers conveyancers. There are no post completion requirements just for conveyancing in Shoeburyness.

I have recentlybeen informed that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Shoeburyness for a purchase of a freehold house 9 months ago. How can I check that the property is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?

The quickest way to check if the premises is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Shoeburyness conveyancing specialists.

There are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Shoeburyness. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Shoeburyness.

Shoeburyness Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Generally speaking the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, although a few managing agents in Shoeburyness obliged leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major works. Does the lease have in excess of 80 years remaining? This information is important as a) areas can result in problems for the block as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where repairs are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the running of the building you will want to have all the details