My partner and I are hoping to acquire a house in Thorpe Astley and have instructed a Thorpe Astley conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Nationwide Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Thorpe Astley lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Thorpe Astley solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

There is lots of here about conveyancing in Thorpe Astley but what is your top tip for finding the right conveyancer in Thorpe Astley

We would encourage you not to base your choice on the lowest Thorpe Astley conveyancing quote. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. 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 go into the conveyancing with your eyes wide open.

My offer was accepted on a house in Thorpe Astley on 25/10/2024, valuation was booked 4 days later, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Bank of Ireland and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Bank of Ireland to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Having read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Thorpe Astley solicitor - who is on the Barclays conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?

Barclays will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Barclays will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your property lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Thorpe Astley postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Barclays, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Thorpe Astley.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Thorpe Astley with a mortgage from Birmingham Midshires. The builders refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The estate agent advised me not reveal to my lawyer about this deal as it would jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

My partner has encouraged me to appoint his lawyers for conveyancing in Thorpe Astley. Should I find my own solicitor?

No doubt the best way to choose a conveyancing lawyer is to seek feedback from friends or family who have actually previously instructed the solicitor that you are contemplating using.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Thorpe Astley with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Thorpe Astley can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
A minority of Thorpe Astley leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers. If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Thorpe Astley home move. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible. The majority of landlords or Management Companies in Thorpe Astley charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information 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 common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Thorpe Astley. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Thorpe Astley leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.

I purchased a garden flat in Thorpe Astley, conveyancing formalities finalised April 2003. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Thorpe Astley with an extended lease are worth £260,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2098

You have 74 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.