My husband and I are looking to purchase a flat in Bishops Cleeve and are in fact using a Bishops Cleeve conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Skipton Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Bishops Cleeve lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Bishops Cleeve lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

I'm buying my first flat in Bishops Cleeve with a mortgage from Nottingham Building Society. The sellers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The house builders rep told me not disclose to my solicitor about the side-deal as it will affect my mortgage with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Bishops Cleeve is the location of the property. Can you offer any opinion?

Flying freeholds in Bishops Cleeve are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Bishops Cleeve you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Bishops Cleeve may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

Taking into account that I will soon part with £400,000 on a garden flat in Bishops Cleeve I wish to have a conversation with the conveyancer regarding theconveyancing in advance of instructing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?

This is something that we encourage - we would be happy to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you speaking to the conveyancer due to be conducting your conveyancing in Bishops Cleeve.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important person, not a case number. The solicitors that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are calculated and presented to you for your conveyancing in Bishops Cleeve should be the figure that you end up paying.

I am using a search engine for the term on line conveyancing in Bishops Cleeve it shows results of many conveyancersin the area. How do I determine which is the right property lawyer for my move?

The preferential way of seeking the right conveyancer is via personal recommendation, so seek the counsel of colleagues and those you trust who have bought a property in Bishops Cleeve or the reputable estate agent or mortgage broker. Costs for conveyancing in Bishops Cleeve differ, so it's a good idea to request a minimum of three fee calculations from different conveyancers. Make sure that you clarify that the costs are assured not to rise.