I am in need of a conveyancer. Should I go for for an online conveyancer as opposed to a high street Morden conveyancing solicitor?

On the whole conveyancing solicitors in your area will have excellent relationships with your local authority, which could help with your Morden conveyancing searches that your solicitor will need to carry out. It can only be a plus if they enjoy good rapport with the Land Registry overseeing your area Morden, other property lawyers in the area and Morden Estate Agents.

My fiancee and I are purchasing our first house. Our property lawyer has messagedto see if we want to purchase extra conveyancing searches. As novices we are clueless as to what's necessary for conveyancing in Morden

The scope of Morden conveyancing searches should be triggered based entirely on the property, the location, the probability of any of these risks, your knowledge of the locality and risks, your overall approach to risk. What is important is that you properly understand what information each search could provide. You may then make a decision if you consider that you need that information. If unsure, ask your conveyancing practitioner to explain.

I have a mortgage with RBS for my property in Morden. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform RBS?

RBS must be informed of your intention in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of RBS’s mortgage conditions. It may be that RBS will permit you to let 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 RBS directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a RBS conveyancing panel lawyer.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Morden. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their solicitor. I paid an on account payment of £150. Not long after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Lloyds 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 Lloyds 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 was told three weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by UBS. Is it usual for UBS to only issue the offer once my solicitor in Morden is approved on their conveyancing panel? UBS have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their Professional Indemnity Insurance Schedule.

A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for UBS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the UBS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Is it necessary to take out insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when acquiring a property in Morden?

Unless a prior purchase of the house completed after 12 October 2013 you can expect solicitors delivering conveyancing in Morden to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.

I am purchasing a new build house in Morden with a mortgage from Godiva Mortgages Ltd. The builders would not move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative suggested that I not disclose to my solicitor about this extras as it could impact my loan with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

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.