Me and my partner are about to complete on the purchase of a house in Smethwick but as a result of wreckage from a small fire at the property I have was able negotiate recompense from the current proprietors of £3k taking the form of a deduction in the price. This was going to be addressed as part of a side agreement yet Virgin Money are not allowing this. Should they have been notified?

The conveyancing practitioner that is on the Virgin Money approved list is duty bound to disclose to Virgin Money of any variations to the sale price. If you prohibit your property lawyer to report the reduction to Virgin Money then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, Virgin Money and you would have to appoint a new solicitor for your conveyancing in Smethwick.

We are getting the release of further monies on our mortgage from Coventry BS as we intend to carry out improvements to our house in Smethwick. Are we obliged to appoint a bricks and mortar Smethwick solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?

Coventry BS don't usually instruct a member of their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Coventry BS panel.

The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Smethwick. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I would like to complain about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?

Almost all lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR with full details of your complaint.

After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Smethwick. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £200. A few days later, the conveyancer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our house can not be found. The conveyancers who dealt with the conveyancing in Smethwick 5 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?

Assuming you have a registered title the details of your proprietorship will be documented by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to carry out a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and get up to date copies of the property title for less than a fiver. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for £20 inclusive of VAT.

I have been on the look out for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Smethwick I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Smethwick for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage that many years will likely be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass 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 regarding this.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Smethwick. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am the registered owner of a garden flat in Smethwick, conveyancing was carried out in 2000. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar properties in Smethwick with over 90 years remaining are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2095

With only 70 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.