My wife and I are hoping to buy a home in South Wimbledon and are in fact using a South Wimbledon conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Nationwide Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our South Wimbledon lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred South Wimbledon lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

The South Wimbledon conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my purchase in South Wimbledon have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and my previous South Wimbledon lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should 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.

Will commercial conveyancing searches reveal planned roadworks that may affect a commercial estate in South Wimbledon?

Many commercial conveyancing solicitors in South Wimbledon will order a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers spend in researching accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in South Wimbledon. The search result sets out definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in South Wimbledon.

For each commercial conveyancing transaction in South Wimbledon it is critical to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been addressed adequately may result in delays to South Wimbledon commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not conducted for domestic conveyancing in South Wimbledon.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon with the aim of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in South Wimbledon state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance. You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale. The majority of landlords or managing agents in South Wimbledon levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon.

I am the proprietor of a first flat in South Wimbledon. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum payable for a lease extension?

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a South Wimbledon flat is 14 Nutwell Street in January 2014. The premium payable for the acquisition of a new lease of the subject premises was in the sum of £30,523 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 62.94 years.

What is the best way of identifying a cost effective conveyancing in South Wimbledon?

First ask the people you trust who they used in the past and if they were happy with the service. Second, look on the web for conveyancing in South Wimbledon. Telephone two or three from the list and ask them to send you their conveyancing quote and speak to the lawyer who will handle your conveyancing before you commit. Option 3 is to make use of this site to assist you in finding the right lawyers taking into account your unique factors including location,speed, complexity and who the proposed lender is.Avoid the trap of appointing £99 conveyancing solicitors in South Wimbledon