I am progressing with the sale of my apartment in Bromham and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the purchasers are changing their conveyancer. The excuse is that the bank will only work with solicitors on their approved list. Why would a leading lender only engage with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Bromham ?

Banks have always had panels of law firms they are content to work with, but in recent years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 25 years.

Banks point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

Do lenders provide you with an approved list of Bromham conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the HSBC conveyancing panel?

Bromham conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the HSBC conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from HSBC directly.

My aunt passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Bromham. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £4500. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Aldermore, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

If you plan to refinance then Aldermore will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Aldermore conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Aldermore mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

Is it necessary to take out insurance to protect me from financial exposure to chancel repairs when purchasing a residence in Bromham?

Unless a previous purchase of the property completed post 12 October 2013 you can take it that lawyers carrying out conveyancing in Bromham to remain recommending a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.

Hoping to buy a property located in Bromham and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Bromham. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Bromham area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Bromham. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found