My wife and I are planning to acquire a home in Colney Hatch and have appointed a Colney Hatch conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Ireland have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Colney Hatch lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 mortgage company 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Colney Hatch lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Would the conveyancing practitioners revealed via your ’find a lawyer’ tool conduct right to buy conveyancing in Colney Hatch?

We do have a variety of conveyancing solicitors carrying out right to buy conveyancing Do get in touch with us in order to obtain a costs illustration.

It is is a decade since I purchased my property in Colney Hatch. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been instructed on the sale but I am unable to track down my title deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?

Don’t worry too much. Firstly there is a chance that the deeds will be retained by the lender or they could stored with the conveyancers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Colney Hatch involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it is more problematic but is not insurmountable.

Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Colney Hatch prior to instructing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. Our surveyor has said that some mortgage companies will refuse to give a mortgage on this type of home.

It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different requirements from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further with the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Colney Hatch. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Colney Hatch to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

I want to rent out my leasehold flat in Colney Hatch. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

A lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in Colney Hatch do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without any joy. Can one make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Colney Hatch conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Colney Hatch conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Colney Hatch premises is 90 & 96 Poplar Grove in June 2013. It was held by the Tribunal that the premium to be paid for the new lease in respect of each of the flats referred should be £17,942 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 68 years.