My partner and I are looking to buy a flat in Shortlands and have instructed a Shortlands conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Nottingham Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Shortlands solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Shortlands lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

AssumingI was to buy a simple residential homein Shortlands mortgage fee and have no survey and no local authority searches how much should I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Shortlands?

Any savings you would achieve would be isolated to the Shortlands conveyancing searches. Your solicitor still got to do everything else - money laundering, communicating with your sellers solicitor, stamp duty submission, register the property etc. You might save a bit for them not needing to register a charge but it won't be significant.

Me and my brother have a semi-detached Edwardian house in Shortlands. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and HSBC Bank. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Shortlands and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also question the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the purchase.

I need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Shortlands for my house move. Is there any facility to see a firm’s record with the legal regulator?

Members of the public can read documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations stemming from investigations started on or after Jan 2008. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For details about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a firm's history, ring 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, use +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA could recorded telephone calls for training reasons.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Shortlands. Conveyancing and Coventry Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Shortlands who acted for me is not around. Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Shortlands conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am the leaseholder of a ground floor flat in Shortlands. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount due for a lease extension?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Shortlands conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Shortlands residence is Ravensbourne Lodge 4 Highland Road in February 2013. the Tribunal held that the amount payable for the freehold was £22,268