My wife and I are hoping to acquire a home in Seaham and are in fact using a Seaham conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Seaham conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Seaham lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

We are selling our apartment in Seaham. Will my conveyancer have to be required to be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.

My aunt pointed out to me me that in buying a property in Seaham there may be a number of restrictions prohibiting external alterations to a property. Is this right?

There are a number of properties in Seaham which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Seaham should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

The mortgage over my property is with Leeds Building Society for my property in Seaham. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Leeds Building Society?

Your original mortgage agreement with Leeds Building Society will provide that you need their approval before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Leeds Building Society’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Leeds Building Society directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel firm.

Aldermore have agreed my mortgage in principle, my bid on a property in Seaham has been accepted, what are the next steps?

Your estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (ensure that the property lawyers are on the bank’s approved list). Telephone Aldermore or your financial adviser and finish off any outstanding paperwork. Aldermore will sellect a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or owners to book an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes about ten days to get a mortgage offer. Aldermore will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Seaham.

I have been advised by two or three local estate agents in Seaham to get a quote from a conveyancer using your seach tool. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to recommend your site rather than alternative conveyancing organisations?

We don’t give any financial incentive for pointing buyers and sellers to this site. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

Due to exchange soon on a basement flat in Seaham. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Seaham should include some of the following:

Ground rent - what is due and when you need to pay, and be on notice if this will change in the future Responsibility for maintaining the window frames You would want to be sent a copy of the lease It needs to be made clear to you if the lease allows you to change or upgrade aspects of the flat- you should know whether any restrictions applies to all alterations or limited to structural alteration, and whether licences for alterations is mandated necessary

I bought a ground floor flat in Seaham, conveyancing was carried out April 2008. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Seaham with over 90 years remaining are worth £197,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease finishes on 21st October 2080

You have 54 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £32,300 and £37,400 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.