My partner and I are looking to purchase a home in Royston and are in fact using a Royston conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Bank of Ireland have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Royston solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender 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 Royston solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

My partner and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Royston with Virgin Money. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Virgin Money conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Virgin Money conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Virgin Money. This is solely used to protect Virgin Money if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Virgin Money had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Royston last April yet the purchaser is texting every few hours to say his conveyancer needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale formalities following completion?

After completion of your house sale your lawyer should deliver the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor should also evidence that the mortgage has been discharged to the buyers lawyers. There are no post completion procedures unique to conveyancing in Royston.

Will my lawyer be raising questions about flooding as part of the conveyancing in Royston.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers dealing with homes in Royston. Plenty of people will acquire a property in Royston, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable building insurance, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.

Conveyancers are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous searches that can be undertaken by the purchaser or by their conveyancers which can give them a better appreciation of the risks in Royston. The standard information supplied to a purchaser’s lawyer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) contains a usual question of the owner to discover whether the premises has ever been flooded. If the premises has been flooded in past and is not revealed by the owner, then a buyer could commence a compensation claim resulting from an inaccurate response. The purchaser’s lawyers may also conduct an environmental report. This will higlight if there is any known flood risk. If so, additional investigations should be carried out.

I used Action Conveyancing several years ago for my conveyancing in Royston. I now require my file however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?

Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down 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 Royston 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.