My fiance and I are buying a newly converted apartment in Hornsea with a residential mortgage from HSBC Bank.We would like to retain our Hornsea conveyancing lawyer but HSBC Bank says he's not on their approved list of firms. we are left little option but to use a HSBC Bank panel firm or retain our preferred solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. This seems very unfair; Can we not simply insist that HSBC Bank use our lawyer?

Unfortunately,no. The loan offered to you is subject to its various provisions, one of which will be that solicitors needs to be on the HSBC Bank 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. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for HSBC Bank

I just bought a house at auction in Hornsea. Conveyancing is required. What is next?

Now that you are legally bound yourself to purchase you should retain a conveyancing solicitor quickly as you are facing a fast approaching a drop dead date to complete the transaction. An auction property will have a corresponding auction pack. This will likely include most,if not all of the documents that your solicitor will need. If you have purchased leasehold premises the conveyancing papers may contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork pertinent to leasehold premises. You must hand this to the lawyer instructed by you as soon as possible. You also need to ensure that you have funds organised to complete on the date specified in the contract.

My wife and I are spending time viewing flats in Hornsea and I am now considering a potential offer. Should I already have a conveyancer in place at this stage? I will be getting a mortgage with Kent Reliance.

You should start requesting conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the selling agent. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Kent Reliance, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Hornsea conveyancing practitioner having made sure that they are on the UBS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

UBS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually UBS 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. You may wish to consider appointing your own Hornsea surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

I am buying my first flat in Hornsea with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my conveyancer about this extras as it may jeopardize my mortgage with Nottingham Building Society. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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.

In what way can the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 affect my commercial offices in Hornsea and how can you help?

The particular law that you refer to gives security of tenure to business leaseholders, giving them the a statutory right to make a request to court for a renewal tenancy and continue in occupation at the end of an expired lease. There are certain specified grounds where a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are complicated. Fees are different for commercial conveyancing. Hornsea is one of the hundreds of locations in which our lawyers have offices

We're FTB’s - agreed a price, but the selling agent advised that the seller will only go ahead if we instruct their chosen lawyers as they need an ‘expedited deal’. My instinct tells me that we should use a high street conveyancer who is familiar with conveyancing in Hornsea

We suspect that the seller is unaware of this request. If they require ‘a quick sale', turning down a genuine purchaser is not the way to achieve this. Contact the owners directly and make sure they understand (a)you are serious buyers (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you intend to instruct your preferred Hornsea conveyancing lawyers - not the ones that will give the negotiator at the agency a referral fee or achieve conveyancing targets demanded by corporate headquarters.