I am selling my house in North London and the estate agent has just called to warn that the buyers are swapping conveyancer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only engage with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in North London ?

UK lenders have always had panels of law firms they are content to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.

Banks point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms 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. Your purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in North London costs more?

In summary, leasehold conveyancing in North London and elsewhere usually warrants additional due diligence compared to freehold conveyancing. This includes reviewing the lease, liaising with the landlord about serving applicable notices, obtaining current service charge and management information, procuring the landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts. The obligations on both the landlord and the tenant in the lease need to be studied by the buyer’s conveyancing team and read from beginning to end – regardless of the fact the lease has passed through many different property solicitors hands since it was first granted.

is it true that all North London solicitor firms on the Principality conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Principality approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Some mortgage companies do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the practice would be overseen by the CLC.

I am due to exchange contracts on my house. I had a double glazing fitted in November 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s lender, HSBC are being difficult. The North London solicitor who is on the HSBC conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but HSBC are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do HSBC have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that HSBC have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why HSBC may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

Santander have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a apartment in North London has been agreed to, now what?

Your property agent will want to know who your solicitors are (be sure the solicitors are on the lender’s approved list). Telephone Santander or your financial adviser and finalise any outstanding paperwork. Santander will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or seller to arrange an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes approximately a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Santander will issue the offer to you and your conveyancing practitioners. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in North London.

A friend advised me that if I am purchasing in North London I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your North London conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about North London around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the North London Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning North London.

I am buying a new build house in North London with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The estate agent suggested that I not to tell my lawyer about this extras as it could affect my mortgage with Birmingham Midshires. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.