We are planning to acquire a flat and need a conveyancing solicitor in Branston who is on the Santander conveyancing panel. Can you recommend a local firm?

Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Santander . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Branston.

We are purchasing a property in Branston. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we will need to deposit funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our money?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

My partner and I have organised the release of further monies on our mortgage from Santander as we wish to carry out a loft conversion to our property in Branston. Are we obliged to appoint a local Branston solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?

Santander don't usually appoint firms on their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Santander panel.

After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Branston. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £200. A few days later, the lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the UBS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the UBS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I have been told that property searches are a common cause of obstruction in Branston conveyancing transactions. Is there any truth in this?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the top 10 causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Searches are not likely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Branston.

Hoping to buy a property located in Branston and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Branston. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Branston area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Branston. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found

Me and my partner are purchasing a three bedroom ground floor flatin Branston with a mortgage from a lender. We wish to instruct our conveyancer in Branston however our lender says she’s not listed on their "panel". Apparently we need to choose one of the our lender panel firms or stay with our Branston conveyancer and incur the extra fees for one of their panel ones to represent our mortgage company. This seems very unfair; Can we not simply insist that our mortgage company use our Branston lawyer?

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