As someone not used to the Whickham conveyancing process what is your top tip you can give me for the legal transfer of property in Whickham

You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Whickham and elsewhere in England and Wales is often a confrontational experience. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists plenty of opportunity for conflict between you and others involved in the transaction. For instance, the vendor, estate agent and even potentially your bank. Selecting a lawyer for your conveyancing in Whickham should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONE person in the legal process whose role it is to act in your best interests and to keep you safe.

We are witnessing a distinct ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you your first instinct should be to trust your lawyer above all other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.

The Whickham conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Whickham have without warning shut down. I only went with them because I needed a firm on the UBS conveyancing panel and my preferred Whickham lawyer was not. I paid them funds in advance. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will 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 UBS 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 should be in a position to assist.

How easy is it to change conveyancer as I need to appoint a firm on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing list. I instructed a high street conveyancing solicitor in Whickham five minutes from me but the firm is not accepted by Birmingham Midshires

We will our best to assist in finding you a conveyancing solicitor in Whickham on the Birmingham Midshires panel. Please note that the conveyancers that we work with do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who regulate all conveyancing solicitors in Whickham. Using the find a conveyancing solicitor tool on this page, you can compare fees for conveyancing solicitors in Whickham and beyond.

As co-executor for the will of my father I am selling a house in Newport but reside in Whickham. My solicitor (who is 300 kilometers from meneeds me to sign a stat dec ahead of the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Whickham to attest this legal document for me?

strictly speaking you are not likely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily or notary public or qualified solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are Whickham based

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Whickham with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Whickham can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ lawyers.
If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Whickham conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible. A minority of Whickham leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors. Many landlords or managing agents in Whickham levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out 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 receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Whickham.

I bought a garden flat in Whickham, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2012. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Whickham with a long lease are worth £186,000. The ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2077

With 52 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £29,500 and £34,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.