Me and my husband are buying property in Carmel. My property lawyer is not listed on the lender solicitor panel. Am I still permitted to continue with my Carmel conveyancing solicitor even though they are excluded from the bank list of approved lawyers?

Your options include

• Carry on with your chosen Carmel solicitor but your mortgage company will no doubt use a conveyancer on their conveyancing panel. The net result is additional cost and probable delay.
• Get a fresh conveyancing practitioner to act in the purchase, making sure they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
• Convince your property lawyer to pull out all the stops to get listed on the lender’s conveyancing panel

My husband and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from Yorkshire BS as we wish to carry out renovations to our property in Carmel. Are we obliged to choose a high street Carmel solicitor on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?

Yorkshire BS would not normally require firms on their conveyancing panel 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 Yorkshire BS panel.

My wife and I are in the throws of viewing apartments in Carmel and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I intend to finance via a mortgage with Clydesdale.

It would be sensible to start your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the EA. As you are taking out a mortgage with Clydesdale, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel.

I have a mortgage with Nationwide for my property in Carmel. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Nationwide?

You must advise Nationwide before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nationwide’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Nationwide 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 Nationwide directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Nationwide conveyancing panel lawyer.

I acquired my home on 3 March and my personal details is yet to be on the land registry website. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Carmel said it will be formalised inside ten days. Are transfers in Carmel uniquely lengthy to register?

As far as conveyancing in Carmel is concerned, registration is no quicker or slower than the rest of England and Wales. Rather than based on location, timeframes can adjust according to who lodges the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry need to notify any other parties. Currently in the region of three quarters of submission are completed within two weeks but some can be subject to extensive hold-ups. Registration occurs after the purchaser has moved in to the premises therefore an expedited registration is not always top priority but if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your conveyancer must communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Carmel is the location of the property. Can you offer any advice?

Flying freeholds in Carmel are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Carmel you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Carmel may ascertain 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 premises.

Taking into account that I am about to part with over three hundred thousand on a house in Carmel I would like to have a conversation with the lawyer regarding thetransaction ahead of instructing the firm. Can this be arranged?

Absolutely - we would be pleased to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the solicitor who will be doing your property ownership legalities in Carmel.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique individual, not a case reference. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are provided with for your conveyancing in Carmel should be the amount on the final invoice that you are charged.