My wife and I are only a couple days away from an exchange on a house in Waltham and my mum and dad have transferred the 10% deposit to my lawyer. I am now advised that as the deposit has not arrived from me my conveyancer needs to make a notification to my bank. I am advised that, in also acting for the mortgage company he must inform them that the balance of the purchase price is coming from anyone other than me. I disclosed to the lender regarding my parents' contribution when I applied for the home loan, so is it really necessary for this now to hold matters up?

The conveyancer is legally required to clarify with the bank to ensure that they know that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. The solicitor can only reveal this to your mortgage company if you permit them to, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.

We are planning to buy with Loughborough BS. I popped in a couple of high street companies but cant to find a Waltham conveyancing firm on the Loughborough BS approved list. Can you assist?

You should make the most of the find a conveyancing panel solicitor tool on this site. Please choose the building society and type Waltham or your preferred area and you will see a number of lawyer based in Waltham or nearest you.

This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a garden flat in Waltham. Do I receive the keys to the premises on the completion date from my solicitor? If so, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in Waltham?

On the day of completion you do not need to go to the conveyancers office in Waltham. Your solicitors will electronically transfer the completion advance to the seller's conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be called to pick up the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.

My stepmother pointed out to me me that in buying a property in Waltham there could be a number of restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external alterations to the property. Is this right?

There are a number of properties in Waltham which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to carry out external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Waltham should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

We previously selected conveyancers based in Waltham on the Bank of Ireland solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a supplemental fee for handling the Bank of Ireland mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Bank of Ireland?

As unfair as it may seem, as long as it’s in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancer can levy a fee for this. This charge is not set by Bank of Ireland but by your Waltham property lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Bank of Ireland panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee but plenty of practices incorporate it on their overall fee.

It has been 3 months following my purchase conveyancing in Waltham completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Waltham from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Waltham can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ lawyers.
You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale. If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing. If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and delays many a Waltham conveyancing transaction. Where a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible. Some Waltham leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual 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 purchasers or their lawyers.

I acquired a 1 bedroom flat in Waltham, conveyancing having been completed in 2006. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar flats in Waltham with an extended lease are worth £186,000. The ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2077

With just 52 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £29,500 and £34,000 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.