I am not well enough to travel far from Sunbury. What is the rationale as to why all Sunbury conveyancers are not on all lender panels?

Lenders ordinarily restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their panel. A common example of such criteria being that a firm needs to have at least two partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some building societies made a decision to restrict the number of organisations they allow to act for them. You should note that mortgage companies have no accountability for the quality of advice provided by any Sunbury property lawyer on their approved list. Mortgage fraud was the primary trigger for the rationalisation of conveyancing panels in the last decade notwithstanding that there are contrary views concerning the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Data from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only transact one or two conveyances a year. Those vindicating conveyancing panel culls ask why law firms should have any entitlement to be on a bank panel when clearly conveyancing is not their speciality?

If you had a top tip for choosing a conveyancing solicitor in Sunbury what would it be?

We would encourage you not to go for the cheapest Sunbury conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of the deal.

We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Skipton as we wish to carry out renovations to our house in Sunbury. Are we obliged to choose a high street Sunbury solicitor on the Skipton conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

Skipton don't usually require a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Skipton conveyancing panel.

The mortgage over my property is with Nationwide for my property in Sunbury. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Nationwide?

Your original mortgage agreement with Nationwide will provide that you need their approval prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nationwide’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Nationwide directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Nationwide conveyancing panel firm.

I know that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I require chancel insurance when purchasing a house in Sunbury? or Apparently there is a law dating back centuries that could mean that owners of property residing in a parish church boundary may be liable to contribute towards maintenance to the chancel within the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in Sunbury?

Unless a prior acquisition of the property took place post 12 October 2013 you could take it that solicitors conducting conveyancing in Sunbury to remain recommending a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.

I am looking into buying my first house which is in Sunbury and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Sunbury. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Sunbury area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Sunbury. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found

After years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Sunbury. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Sunbury conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Sunbury property is 147 Redford Close in June 2012. The Tribunal determined the lease extension premium to be at £4,200 This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 82.93 years.

What are the common problems that you witness in leases for Sunbury properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Sunbury. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain sections are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You may have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.