My fiance and I are planning to purchase a property in Salisbury and are in fact using a Salisbury conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barnsley Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Salisbury lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Salisbury solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

Me and my wife are buying our first house. Our conveyancing practitioner has texted usto see if we want to take out supplemental conveyancing searches. We are really unsure what's needed for conveyancing in Salisbury

The quantity and type of Salisbury conveyancing searches should be dictated entirely on the property, the location, the likelihood of any of these risks, your knowledge of the locality and risks, your general appetite to risk. What is important is that you properly appreciate what information the searches could provide. Then you can decide if you consider that you need that search. Should you be unclear, ask the lawyer to provide guidance.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Salisbury benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my conveyancer about this deal as it could impact my loan with the bank. 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.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Salisbury is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Salisbury are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Salisbury you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Salisbury may decide 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.

I have been sourcing a conveyancing solicitor in Salisbury for my house move. Is there any facility to see a solicitor's record with the legal regulator?

One can find published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations stemming from inquisitions commenced on or after Jan 2008. Visit Check a solicitor's record. To find details about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a firm's record, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. For non-uk callers, use +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could monitor telephone calls for training reasons.