I am in the process of selling my home in St John's Wood and the estate agent has just e-mailed to advise that the purchasers are swapping property lawyer. The reason given is that the lender will only work with solicitors on their approved list. Why would a major lender only deal with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in St John's Wood ?

Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 25 years.

Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says 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. The purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

My St John's Wood solicitor has spotted a discrepancy between the information in the home valuation report and what is revealed within the legal papers for the property. My solicitor informs me that he needs to ensure that the lender is happy with this discrepancy and is content to go ahead. Is my solicitor’s approach correct?

Your lawyer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for both parties.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my property can not be found. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in St John's Wood 10 years ago are no longer around. Will I be able to sell the house?

As long as you have a registered title the information relating to your proprietorship will be held by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to perform a search at the Land Registry, find your house and obtain current copies of the property title for a small fee. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for £20 inclusive of VAT.

In my capacity as executor for the estate of my uncle I am disposing of a property in Monmouth but reside in St John's Wood. My conveyancer (based 250 miles from mehas requested that I sign a stat dec ahead of the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing solicitor in St John's Wood who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?

Technically speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will do regardless of whether they are located in St John's Wood

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in St John's Wood. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in St John's Wood who previously acted has now retired. Any advice?

First contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a St John's Wood conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Following years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St John's Wood. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St John's Wood property is Garden Flat 195 Goldhurst Terrace in May 2012. The Tribunal held in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be £60,855.00. This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 60.16 years.