My fiancee and I are purchasing our first property. Our conveyancing practitioner has e-mailedto enquire if we would like to take out supplemental conveyancing searches. As novices we in the dark as to what's necessary for conveyancing in Eastbourne

The extent of Eastbourne conveyancing searches should be triggered based entirely on the property, the location, the likelihood of any of these risks, your knowledge of the locality and risks, your overall appetite to risk. What matters is that you properly appreciate what information the searches could supply. You may then make a decision if you personally think you need that information. Should you be unsure, ask the solicitor to recommend.

My partner and I have organised a further advance on our mortgage from Bank of Ireland as we want to carry out renovations to our property in Eastbourne. Are we obliged to select a bricks and mortar Eastbourne solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?

Bank of Ireland do not ordinarily require firms on their conveyancing panel to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.

I currently have a mortgage with HSBC for my property in Eastbourne. Conveyancing was finalised 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform HSBC?

You must advise HSBC prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of HSBC’s mortgage conditions. It may be that HSBC 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 HSBC directly. You need not do this via a HSBC conveyancing panel firm.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Eastbourne. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Shortly after, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Principality 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 Principality 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 recentlydiscovered that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Eastbourne for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I check that the property is in my name in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest way to check if the property is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Eastbourne conveyancing specialists.

I opted to have a survey done on a property in Eastbourne prior to retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. Our surveyor advised that some mortgage companies may not give a loan on such a premises.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements from Halifax. If you e-mail us we can investigate further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Eastbourne. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

What is the reason for my conveyancer requiring various items of identification before they can commence with selling or purchasing a property in Eastbourne?

Eastbourne property lawyers are required by the Law Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority, HMLR and current Money Laundering legislation to certify that the have checked the identity of their clients. It is also sometimes a condition of your lender where you are obtaining a mortgage. Furthermore they have to complete various forms, particularly those relating to Land Tax and need to have details such as your full names, NI number and DOB.