My partner and I are planning to buy a property in Audley and are in fact using a Audley conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Barnsley Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Audley lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 solicitor 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Audley lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

is it true that all Audley solicitor practices on the Nationwide conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Nationwide approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I'm at the point of looking at houses in Audley and I am about to put in an offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I will be getting a home loan with HSBC.

You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the EA. As you are obtaining a mortgage with HSBC, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the HSBC conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

I have a mortgage with Barclays for my property in Audley. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Barclays?

Your original mortgage agreement with Barclays will provide that you need their approval prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Barclays’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Barclays directly. You need not do this via a Barclays conveyancing panel solicitor.

I am buying my first flat in Audley with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The property agent advised me not inform my lawyer about the deal as it would put at risk my loan with the bank. 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.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Audley ahead of retaining lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor advised that some lenders tend refuse to grant a mortgage on such a property.

It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Audley. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Audley especially if they are acquainted with such properties in Audley.

I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for residential conveyancing in Audley. I've stumble across a site which appears to be the perfect solution If it is possible to get all the legals completed via email that would be preferable. Do I need to be concerned? What are the potential pitfalls?

As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?