My husband and I are planning to buy a property in Ashford and have appointed a Ashford conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Ashford solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal 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 Accreditation 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Ashford solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

I am helping my mother sell her house in Ashford. Does the conveyancer arrange the energy assessment or should I organise this?

After the abolition of HIPs, energy performance certificates was maintained a required part of moving house. An energy assessment needs to be commissioned before the property is put on the market. This is not something that lawyers ordinarily arrange. If you are instructing a Ashford conveyancing solicitor they may help arrange EPC’s given their contacts with long established Ashford energy assessors

My uncle advised me that in buying a property in Ashford there could be a number of restrictions prohibiting external alterations to the property. Is this right?

We are aware of anumerous of properties in Ashford which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Ashford should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

We expect to receive a DIP from Lloyds this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Lloyds recommend any Ashford solicitors on the Lloyds conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?

You will need to appoint Ashford solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Lloyds through the process.

I used Wolstenholmes a few years ago for my conveyancing in Ashford. I now require my papers however the law firm has closed. What do I do?

Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate 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 Ashford 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.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Ashford ahead of appointing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor advised that some banks tend not give a mortgage on this type of property.

It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Ashford. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

My step-son is embarking on her first house purchase, he had his mortgage in principle. After the offer was accepted on house we contacted the mortgage company to issue the formal offer. I was very surprised to discover that mortgage lenders do not accept all conveyancing practitioner, they have to be on a list, is this legal?

Mortgage Companies normally imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Ashford conveyancer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Presumably not.