My fiance and I are looking to buy a flat in Chiseldon and are in fact using a Chiseldon conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Chiseldon solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Chiseldon solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

My grandmother passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Chiseldon. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £4500. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Bank of Ireland, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

Where you intend to refinance then Bank of Ireland will require that you use a conveyancer on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Bank of Ireland mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

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

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

I am using a search engine for the words on line conveyancing in Chiseldon it shows results of numerous property lawyersin the area. With so much choice what is the best way to find the right conveyancer for purchase transaction?

The best way of seeking the right conveyancer is through a personal referral, so ask friends and those you trust who have purchased a property in Chiseldon or the reputable estate agent or mortgage broker. Charges for conveyancing in Chiseldon vary, so it's a good idea to request at least three fee calculations from different law firms. Dont forget to clarify that the costs are assured not to escalate.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Chiseldon where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Chiseldon conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Chiseldon - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees benefit from control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often employed where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. Most Chiseldon leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the management company. Where you purchase the flat you will have to meet this amount, usually quarterly throughout the year. This could differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to check as on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive.