My wife and I are hoping to buy a home in Hotwells and are in fact using a Hotwells conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Hotwells solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Hotwells lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

Would the conveyancing solicitors that you recommend carry out auction conveyancing in Hotwells?

We know of a number of auction practitioners we can connect you with those who can conduct auction conveyancing. Hotwells is one of hundreds of areas of where our lawyers are based.

I have an AIP. The bank mentioned the home loan came with free conveyancing. Is the implication that I have to use their panel conveyancer as I would much rather use a Hotwells based conveyancing firm?

Do check but the chances are that give you one of their panel conveyancers where you take up the "fee-free" incentive. Call the lender to determine if they make available a cash alternative. In the past a few lenders offered a £250 cashback as a further option in which case that money can go towards the cost for your conveyancing solicitor near Hotwells.

I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Hotwells in advance of retaining solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the house. Our surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to issue a loan on a flying freehold property.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different requirements from Halifax. If you call us we can check via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Hotwells. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Hotwells to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

We own a leasehold flat in Hotwells. Conveyancing was finalised in 2011. I have heard that I mustn’t allow the the remaining lease term to fall too low. What is the reasoning?

Hotwells leasehold properties are for a prescribed period - usually just under one hundred years when they started. However many flats in Hotwells were built or converted 25 or more years ago and so such leases now have fewer than eighty years unexpired. This may sound like plenty of time but Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage companies generally need leases to have a minimum of seventy five years remaining to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are nearing eighty years. To increase your property value you should be thinking about whether or not to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. There are also advantages to taking action before the lease hits eighty years as when the lease is less than 80 years the amount you have to pay to extend starts to increase.