Completion of my purchase has taken place for my property in Caerphilly. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I would like to complain about the lender. How do I make a complaint?

Almost all lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Caerphilly. My financial adviser suggested a solicitor. I paid an upfront payment of £200. A few days later, the property lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the HSBC 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 HSBC 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.

My offer was accepted on a property in Caerphilly on 21/9/2018, valuation was booked 4 days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer retained, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Coventry BS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Coventry BS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I require fast conveyancing in Caerphilly as I am faced with a deadline to complete inside 2 weeks. A home loan is not required. Can I avoid the conveyancing searches to save fees and time?

If.Given you are not taking a home loan you are at liberty not to do searches although no law firm would advise that you don't. With plenty of history conveyancing in Caerphilly the following are instances of what can arise and therefore impact future mortgageability: Enforcement Notices, Overdue Fees, Outstanding Grants, Unadopted Roads,...

I moved into my house on 2 September and my personal details are still not on the land registry website. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Caerphilly expressed confidence that it should be registered in a couple of weeks. Are properties in Caerphilly particularly slow to register?

As far as conveyancing in Caerphilly is concerned, registration is no quicker or slower than anywhere else in the country. Rather than based on location, timescales can vary subject to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry must send notices to any interested parties. As of today approximately three quarters of such applications are completed within 12 days but occasionally there can be longer hold-ups. Historically registration is effected after the buyer is living at the property therefore 'speed' is not usually an essential issue but if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your lawyers must speak with the land registry and explain the circumstances.

I'm buying my first flat in Caerphilly with a loan from Bank of Scotland. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not reveal to my lawyer about this side-deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.

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.

We have an offer in principle from Alliance & Leicester who suggested we could borrow up to £117k. At what point do I need to instruct a solicitor for conveyancing? Caerphilly is where we are buying.

You can appoint a solicitor now so that the conveyancer can open the ledger so they can commence their ID checks etc. As and when you wish them to start work you will be asked for a deposit usually about £175. That should normally be after you have the mortgage offer and valuation report, nevertheless should you want to expedite the process you can start the ball rolling sooner albeit risking some expense.