The Victoria Dock conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my purchase in Victoria Dock have suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Co-operative conveyancing panel and my preferred Victoria Dock lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What are my options?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. 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 Co-operative 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 may be able to help.

My colleague recommended that where I am buying in Victoria Dock I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Victoria Dock conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Victoria Dock around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Victoria Dock Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Victoria Dock Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Victoria Dock.

I am buying my first flat in Victoria Dock with a mortgage from Chelsea Building Society. The sellers refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The house builders rep advised me not reveal to my solicitor about this extras as it would put at risk my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Victoria Dock is the location of the property. Can you offer any guidance?

Flying freeholds in Victoria Dock are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Victoria Dock you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Victoria Dock may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Victoria Dock. Conveyancing has not commenced, but I have recently had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you discharge the maintenance contribution as you normally would as all rents and service invoices will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a studio flat in Victoria Dock, conveyancing was carried out May 1995. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Victoria Dock with over 90 years remaining are worth £265,000. The ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2100

With just 76 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.