The vendors of the house we are purchasing are using a conveyancing solicitor in Keelby who has recommended a preliminary contract with a deposit two thousand pounds. Are such agreements sensible?

There are a couple of primary drawbacks with executing a lock out contract (sometimes termed a shut-out contract) is that it takes away the focus from progressing with the conveyancing process, so unless it requires little or no negotiation then it may transpire to be a cause of frustration and delay. It is not promoted amongst Keelby conveyancing solicitors as a result. A further negative is the extent of the remedies available - a jilted buyer should not expect to win an injunction to prohibit the seller selling to another buyer, so the only remedy open via the agreement will be the reimbursement of abortive charges and, in restricted scenarios, the additional payment of damages.

I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Keelby for our house move. Our broker informed us that our mortgage lenders Barclays won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?

A mortgage company can direct that an approved solicitor act for it. You would be expected to meet the cost of this. Do use our tool to choose a solicitor to carry conveyancing in Keelby on the Barclays approved list of solicitors.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our property can not be found. The conveyancers who handled the conveyancing in Keelby 4 years ago no longer exist. What are my next steps?

You no longer need to hold title original deeds to evidence that you are the owner of your registered land or property, given that the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Keelby prior to appointing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. My surveyor has said that some banks tend not issue a mortgage on such a premises.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different instructions from Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can investigate further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Keelby. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Keelby to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.

My fiance and I are buying a four room first floor flatin Keelby with a loan from a mortgage company. We wish to instruct our conveyancer in Keelby however our bank advise she’s not approved on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to instruct from the our bank panel solicitors or keep our Keelby conveyancer and incur the extra legals for one of their panel ones to represent our mortgage company. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?

Unfortunately,no. The mortgage company home loan issued is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the mortgage company's conveyancing panel. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of law firms on their panels, including many conveyancing solicitors in Keelby : 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 solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.