Me and my fiance are buying a 2 bedroom flat in Conisborough with a mortgage. We like our Conisborough conveyancer, however the bank says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the lender panel solicitors or retain our Conisborough conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We consider that this is unjust; are we not able to insist that the lender use our Conisborough lawyer ?

Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Conisborough conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

Various online forums that I have come across warn that are the number one cause of delay in Conisborough conveyancing transactions. Is this right?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the top 10 causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Conisborough.

I used Stirling Law a few years ago for my conveyancing in Conisborough. I now require my papers however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?

Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Conisborough of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Conisborough with a loan from Bank of Scotland. The developers would not move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not to tell my solicitor about the deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.

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

In my capacity as executor for the will of my uncle I am disposing of a house in Cardiff but I am based in Conisborough. My solicitor (based 250 miles from meneeds me to sign a stat dec ahead of the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing solicitor in Conisborough to witness and place their company stamp on the document?

strictly speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are Conisborough based