My father pointed out to me me that in purchasing a property in Hermitage there may be various restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external alterations to a property. Is this right?

There are anumerous of properties in Hermitage which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Hermitage should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Hermitage. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £225. Not long after, the solicitor contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS 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.

Having read lots of mortgage guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Hermitage solicitor - who is on the HSBC conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

HSBC will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually HSBC will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancing practitioner will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Hermitage postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with HSBC, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Hermitage.

3 months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Hermitage concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Hermitage is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Hermitage are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Hermitage you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Hermitage may decide 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.

I am 14 days into a residential purchase having been directed to a firm by the estate agent to handle our conveyancing in Hermitage. I am not happy. Can you you assist me in finding new conveyancers?

They would have to be very bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the loan offer been generated? In the event that it has you need to advise them of the new solicitor and have the mortgage documents are re-issued. Your solicitor ideally should be on the banks panel to avoid supplemental costs and complications. That should be your starting point. The find a solicitor tool will help you find a bank approved conveyancer for your home move in Hermitage

Do I cancel my mortgage payments with Bank of Ireland once a completion date for my sale in Hermitage has been set?

You are best advised to continue paying any mortgage payments to Bank of Ireland until the mortgage is redeemed from the proceeds of sale as part of your Hermitage conveyancing.