My wife and I are planning to acquire a home in Ilfracombe and have instructed a Ilfracombe conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Ilfracombe solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 lender 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Ilfracombe lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my home are lost. The lawyers who dealt with the conveyancing in Ilfracombe 4 years ago no longer exist. What are my next steps?

You no longer need to hold title official documentation to establish that you are the owner of your registered land or premises, as the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Ilfracombe is where the house is located. What do you suggest?

Flying freeholds in Ilfracombe are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Ilfracombe you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Ilfracombe may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.

Am I better off to go with a Ilfracombe conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am purchasing? An old friend can execute the legal formalities but her office is 200miles away.

The benefit of a local Ilfracombe conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign paperwork, present your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a benefit. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust used your friend and in the main were impressed that should outweigh using an unknown Ilfracombe conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being Ilfracombe based.

I am an executor of my recently deceased aunt’s Will, with a bungalow in Ilfracombe which is to be marketed. The bungalow is unregistered at HMLR and I'm advised that many buyers solicitors will insist that it is completed before they will move forward. What's the mechanism for this?

In the situation that you have set out it seems sensible to seek to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. HMLR’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.