My fiance and I are hoping to buy a property in Basingstoke and are in fact using a Basingstoke conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Britannia have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Basingstoke solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional 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 property lawyer 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Basingstoke solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

AssumingI were to purchase a straightforward homein Basingstoke for cash and have no survey and no local authority searches how much should I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Basingstoke?

Any savings you would make would be isolated to the costs for searches. Your conveyancer is required to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, correspond with the sellers conveyancer, stamp duty submission, register the ownership etc. A slight saving might be made by not having to register a mortgage but it won't be significant.

I had intended to instruct a property lawyer in Basingstoke for our house move. Our broker informed us that our mortgage company Accord Mortgages Ltd won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?

Before the recession most mortgage companies had a different appetite for risk. Almost all Basingstoke conveyancing firms would have been on most lender panels. The Financial Services Authority in 2010 carried out a thematic investigation into mortgage fraud which come to the conclusion: know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, mortgage companies are increasingly seeing more information from law firms relating to their operations and the individuals who work for them as well as establishing certain criteria such a completing on a minimum amount of conveyancing. Many Basingstoke conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have Unblemished track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Basingstoke is amongst the many locations where the conveyancers we recommend are are approved Accord Mortgages Ltd.

I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Basingstoke before retaining solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor has said that some banks will refuse to grant a loan on such a house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different requirements from Halifax. If you e-mail us we can check via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Basingstoke. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Basingstoke to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

Builders have suggested I use a conveyancing practitioner and I've received an estimate from them. It's nearly three hundred pounds cheaper than my preferred Basingstoke conveyancing practitioner. What's the catch?

Builders often have panels of solicitors who are quick and who know the builder's documentation and conveyancer. As many developers offer an incentive to choose their approved solicitor for this reason, any increased charges can be avoided and a builder won't recommend a conveyancing factory and run the risk of having the transaction delayed when they require an exchange in 28 days. A counter-argument for not agreeing to use the suggested lawyer is that they may be reluctant to fight for your interests for fear of alienating the developer. If you worry that this may be the situation you should stick with your high street Basingstoke lawyer.