I am nearing exchange of contracts for my apartment in Battle and the EA has just called to advise that the purchasers are changing their law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named lender only deal with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Battle ?

Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the last few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.

Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Battle?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Battle. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I have been advised by numerous selling agents in Battle to find a conveyancer on your site. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your services rather than a competitor’s?

We refuse to make any financial incentive for directing people our way. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

What makes a Battle lease problematic?

Leasehold conveyancing in Battle is not unique. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts. Insurance obligations

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Chelsea Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

I purchased a 1 bedroom flat in Battle, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Battle with over 90 years remaining are worth £197,000. The ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2081

With just 55 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £31,400 and £36,200 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

We are in the process of a leasehold sale of a flat in Battle. Conveyancing is fine but we are being charged a fortune by the freeholder. To date we have paid £295.50 for a leasehold management information and then another £134.40 for responses to queries raised by the buyers lawyer.

You will not have any say over the extent of the charges for this information however the average fee for the information for Battle leasehold property is £360. When it comes to Battle conveyancing sales it is standard for the seller to pay for these costs. The freeholder or their agents are not duty bound to address these questions most will agree to do so - albeit often at high prices disproportionate to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no legislation that mandates fixed charges for administrative tasks. Nor is there any prescriptive time frame by which they are duty bound to provide answers.