I am selling my home in Monmouthshire and the estate agent has just e-mailed to warn that the purchasers are changing their solicitor. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named mortgage company only deal with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Monmouthshire ?

Banks have always had an approved set of law firms they are content to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 15 years.

Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

I am selling my house in Monmouthshire. Does my property lawyer need to be on the RBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the RBS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently currently.

I have been told that property searches are the main reason for hinderance in Monmouthshire house deals. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Searches are not likely to feature in any holding up conveyancing in Monmouthshire.

I bought my house on 13 September and my personal details are still not on the land registry website. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Monmouthshire said it would be registered inside ten days. Are titles in Monmouthshire uniquely lengthy to register?

As far as conveyancing in Monmouthshire registration is no faster or slower than the rest of England and Wales. Rather than based on location, timescales can vary subject to who lodges the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry communicate with any 3rd parties. Currently approximately three quarters of submission are completed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to extensive delays. Historically registration occurs once the new owner has moved in to the property thus an expedited registration is not usually an essential issue yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.

I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £305k and found one close by in Monmouthshire I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, however it only has 61 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Monmouthshire for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a home loan that many years will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you could ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.