I am one month into the sale of my ground floor flat in Budleigh Salterton and the EA has just e-mailed to warn that the buyers are changing their property lawyer. The excuse is that the lender will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a leading mortgage company only work with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Budleigh Salterton ?

Lenders have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for many years.

Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.

In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Budleigh Salterton? Is this really warranted?

Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering laws require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to check the ID of the potential client they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing instruction. The Terms and Conditions that you are required to sign will no doubt stipulate this. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the CML Lenders Handbook requirements last updated on 1st December 2014. If you refuse to supply identification documents, your lawyer will not be able to take you on as a client.

This question may be naive but I am new to the home moving as a 1st time purchaser of a garden flat in Budleigh Salterton. Do I collect the keys to the premises on the completion date from my lawyer? If so, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in Budleigh Salterton?

On the day of completion you do not need to go to the conveyancers office in Budleigh Salterton. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the purchase money to the seller's lawyers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to receive the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this happens early afternoon.

Is it the case that all Budleigh Salterton conveyancing solicitors on the Santander conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Santander conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of banks do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the firms would be governed by the CLC.

Last month we had a mortgage agreed in principle with Nottingham. Budleigh Salterton conveyancing lawyers were instructed. How long does it take for Nottingham to issue the offer to the lawyer?

There is no definitive answer here. Have Nottingham conducted the valuation? Have you advised Nottingham as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel? Sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued.

I have been advised by a few selling agents in Budleigh Salterton to select a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to offer your services over alternative conveyancing organisations?

We refuse to give any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission as home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

We are buying a three room maisonettein Budleigh Salterton with a mortgage from a bank. We like our lawyer in Budleigh Salterton yet our lender advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint from the our lender panel firms or stay with our Budleigh Salterton solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent our mortgage company. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The lender mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that solicitors will on the lender's conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels, including many conveyancing solicitors in Budleigh Salterton : a mortgagee 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 lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your lender.