Me and my fiance are purchasing a 1 bedroom apartment in Great Barr with a mortgage. We have a Great Barr solicitor, however the mortgage company advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel solicitors or retain our Great Barr property lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel that this is inequitable; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Great Barr conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

Would the conveyancing practitioners Indexed on your site handle auction conveyancing in Great Barr?

We know of a number of auction solicitors we can connect you with those specialising in auction conveyancing. Great Barr is one of hundreds of locations where our lawyers cover.

I am assisting my mother sell her property in Great Barr. Will the conveyancer commission an EPC or it is for the owner to coordinate?

Following the abolition of Home Packs, energy performance certificates was retained a compulsory element of selling a house. An energy performance certificate needs to be commissioned before the property is marketed. It is not something that conveyancers ordinarily arrange. Where you are instructing a Great Barr conveyancing solicitor they might be willing to arrange energy performance certificates given their relationships with long established local assessors

Aldermore have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a flat in Great Barr has been accepted, what are the next steps?

Your property agent will want to be informed of your solicitor's details (ensure that the conveyancing practitioners are on the bank’s approved list). Call up Aldermore or your financial adviser and complete any appropriate paperwork. Aldermore will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or seller to schedule a slot for the valuation to take place. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Aldermore will issue the offer to you and your lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Great Barr.

My offer on a semi in Great Barr has been agreed to, the owners do nevertheless have a tied purchase. The vendors have offered on a property, but it’s not yet tied up, and have viewings of other flats booked. I have instructed a high street conveyancing solicitor in Great Barr. What should be my next step? When do I get the mortgage application with Kent Reliance going?

It is understandable to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then valuation, Great Barr conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you must ensure that your solicitor is on the Kent Reliance approved list. As to the subsequent steps this very much dictated by the specifics of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. In a rising market many buyers would apply for a home loan with Kent Reliance and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they ask their conveyancer to move forward with searches.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Great Barr with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my lawyer about the extras as it would impact my loan with Chelsea Building Society. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.

The solicitors conducting our conveyancing in Great Barr has forwarded documents to review that show the property is unregistered with epitome documents. How can it be that the property not registred at the Land Registry?

The majority of property in Great Barr is registered. An 'epitome' is basically a dossier of photocopies of documents affecting an unregistered title. Many Great Barr conveyancing solicitors will be capable of dealing with such matters but if any uncertainty reigns the conventional advice presently is for the seller’s conveyancer to deal with the registration formalities first and subsequently sell - this undoubtedly result in a significant delay.