What is the best way to find the right solicitor who can give a first class service for my conveyancing in Southmead?

Option 1 is to ask relatives who they used in the past and if they were happy with the service.

Option 2 is to search the internet for conveyancing in Southmead. Ring two or three listed and ask them to email you their conveyancing quote and have a conversation with the lawyer who will conduct your legal process beforemaking your choice.

Option 3 is to make use of our search tool to help you find the right solicitors taking into account your own expectations including the type of property,deadlines, complications and who your intended mortgage company is. Do not be teased by £100 conveyancing in Southmead

My wife and I have a 4 bedroom Edwardian property in Southmead. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Birmingham Midshires. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Birmingham Midshires to clarify?

You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Southmead and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the purchase.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Southmead I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Southmead suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?

Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.

Is it best to instruct a Southmead conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am buying? I have an old university friend who can deal with the conveyancing however they are based 200kilometers drive away.

The benefit of a local Southmead conveyancing practice is that you can drop in to execute documents, present your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have instructed your friend and the majority were happy that must surpass using an unknown Southmead conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.

My wife and I have just had an offer accepted on a house and had meeting on Monday with the Post Office for the mortgage. They warned me that when it comes to selecting a conveyancing practitioner that if they are not on their approved list of conveyancing practitioners then we will be subject to an an additional charge of £200. This is is due to the fact that they would then have to instruct a property lawyer to act on their behalf as well as the one we select on our behalf and we will be on the hook for their costs. I have requested the Post Office to provide me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved lawyers but was told that I need to check with each individual lawyer to see if they are on the panel. What would be the best way of going about this?

You can enquire of the Post Office what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Thereafter ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on loans for the Post Office historically. If the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with the Post Office. Alternatively please use our search tool and we should be able to identify a solicitor in Southmead on the panel for the Post Office.