All was ready to complete my purchase in Cookham next Monday. My property lawyer now wants me to supply her with proof of content and building insurance for the property as he says that he has to check this in his capacity as lawyer for the bank. What does the insurance need to cover?

All property lawyers on acting for lenders would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in a lender’s Part 2 requirements. These requirements are not limited to conveyancing in Cookham.

I have todayfound out that Wolstenholmes have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Cookham for a purchase of a freehold house 9 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is in my name in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest way to check if the premises is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Cookham conveyancing specialists.

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Cookham I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Cookham suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a mortgage that many years will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you may ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this matter.

My husband and I are 3 weeks into a freehold purchase having been referred to conveyancers by the high street agent to perform conveyancing in Cookham. I am am starting to be dissatisfied with the quality of service. Can you help me find new lawyers?

A solicitor would need to be really bad in order to consider replacing them. Has the mortgage offer been generated? In the event that it has you must inform them of the new contact details and get the offer are re-sent. Your new conveyancer should be on the banks panel to avoid supplemental expenses and frustration. So that should be your first question of the new solicitors. Our find a solicitor tool should help you find a bank approved lawyer for your conveyancing in Cookham

Threeweeks into a sale of a flat in Cookham. Conveyancing solicitors are doing their job but we are being charged a fortune by the freeholder. To date we have paid £268 for a leasehold management information and then another £134.40 for supplemental questions supplied by the buyers solicitor.

Your property lawyer will unlikely have any say over the level of the bill for this information but the typical fee for the information for Cookham leasehold property is £350. When it comes to Cookham conveyancing transactions it is customary for the vendor to pay for these costs. The freeholder or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer these questions although many will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices out of proportion to the work involved. Regretfully there is no law that mandates set charges for administrative tasks. There is no legal time frame by which they are duty bound to provide the information.