We decided to purchase a newbuild apartment in Clifton Village with a residential mortgage from .We use our Clifton Village conveyancing lawyer but says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to instruct a panel lawyer or keep our local solicitor and pay for a panel lawyer to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its various provisions, a common one being that lawyers must be on the solicitor panel. in the past, most banks had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find 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

Do I choose a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in Clifton Village?

There are many recorded licenced Conveyancers in Clifton Village and Solicitor partnerships in Clifton Village offering conveyancing It is important to make clear that the two are supervised by regulatory bodies with both specialising in the legal work in transferring property. Both can conduct other property legal work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.

This question may be naive but I am unexperienced as a 1st time buyer of a garden flat in Clifton Village. Do I collect the keys to the property on completion from my conveyancer? If so, I will appoint a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Clifton Village?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will electronically transfer the completion advance to the vendor’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you will be able to pick up the keys from the Estate Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.

My offer was accepted on an apartment in Clifton Village on , valuation was booked 2 days after, all came back fine. Solicitor appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the conveyancing panel. Are entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Clifton Village?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Clifton Village. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Clifton Village. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Clifton Village

Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.

In searching the web for the term cheap conveyancing in Clifton Village it brings up many conveyancersin the area. With so much choice what is the best way to find the right conveyancer for purchase transaction?

The preferential way of seeking the right conveyancer is via trusted referral, so ask colleagues and those you trust who have bought a property in Clifton Village or the local estate agent or financial adviser. Costs for conveyancing in Clifton Village differ, so it's a good idea to obtain at least four estimates from different solicitors. Make sure that you know what costs in the quote includes.