I was recommended to a lawyer who has given a fee estimate £995 for leasehold conveyancing in Potswood. I’m looking to sell a modern detached home for £225,000. This seems too much. Is it in excess of the average fee for conveyancing in Potswood?

The charges are a bit high. If you shop around you could shave off some of the cost by as much as £125. On the other hand, you mightlive to regret choosing an an unknown lawyer. If is important to be sure the firm can represent your lender. You can employ our comparison tool to get a quote a Potswood conveyancing firm on the lender’s approved list of lawyers which can often include conveyancing solicitors in Potswood.

My lawyer has uncovered a a problem with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Potswood. The other side have put forward defective title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our conveyancing practitioner says that he must be satisfied that the lender is happy with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the mortgage company ?

Notwithstanding that you have a mortgage offer from the lender does not mean to say that the property will meet their requirements for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. You and the bank are the client. The appropriate lender specifications have to be complied with.

I am helping my aunt sell her house in Potswood. Will the conveyancing solicitor order the EPC or should I organise this?

After the demise of Home Information Packs, EPC’s was retained a required element of moving property. An energy performance certificate needs to be to hand before the property is marketed. This is not something that solicitors ordinarily arrange. Where you are using a Potswood conveyancing solicitor they may be willing to arrange energy performance certificates due to their relationships with long established Potswood providers

We had instructed conveyancers locally in Potswood on the UBS solicitor approved list. They are now charging me a further fee for handling the UBS mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by UBS?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your solicitor may levy a fee for this. This charge is not dictated by UBS but by your Potswood property lawyer. Some firms on the UBS panel will charge ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Potswood. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Not long after, the property lawyer contacted me to say that they were not on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Kent Reliance panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I'm buying my first flat in Potswood with a loan from Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it could jeopardize my mortgage with Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. Should I keep quiet?.

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

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Potswood from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Potswood can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy process and slows down many a Potswood conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later. The majority of freeholders or managing agents in Potswood levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Potswood. If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge 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 buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.

I inherited a 1st floor flat in Potswood, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Potswood with an extended lease are worth £201,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2091

With 65 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £13,300 and £15,400 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.