I am progressing with the sale of my home in Pontarddulais and the EA has just e-mailed to say that the buyers are switching property lawyer. The reason given is that the bank will only deal with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a big named lender only engage with specific law firms rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Pontarddulais ?

Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the last 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 25 years.

Lending institutions attribute this action to a rise in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say 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. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

Have just purchased a repossessed house at auction in Pontarddulais. Conveyancing is needed. What are my next steps?

Having legally committed yourself to purchase you should find a conveyancing lawyer as a matter of urgency as you now have a tight deadline in which to complete the transaction. All auction property should have an associated legal pack. This will include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. If you have purchased leasehold premises the auction papers should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork relating to a leasehold property. You should hand this to the conveyancer working for you ASAP. Do make sure that you have funds in order to complete on the on the contractual date .

This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as a first time purchaser of a ground floor flat in Pontarddulais. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my solicitor? If so, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Pontarddulais?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the seller's conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to collect the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.

Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Pontarddulais. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I would like to complain about the lender. How do I make a complaint?

Most lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.

My wife and I are downsizing from our home in Pontarddulais and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. Any local lawyer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers are using an internet conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Pontarddulais. We have lived in Pontarddulais for six years we know that this is a non issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to get confirmation that there is no issue.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm already. What do they say? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same sickness)

I am buying a new build house in Pontarddulais benefiting from help to buy. The sellers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not to tell my solicitor about this side-deal as it will adversely affect my loan with Birmingham Midshires. 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.

My partner and I are acquiring a studio flat in Pontarddulais. When we first instructed property lawyer, they told us that they were on all mainstream lender panels. The financial adviser called yesterday to advise that they are not on the Co-operative approved list. Should that be true, what should we do? Do we simply choose a different solicitor that is on their panel or do we pay for separate representation, with Co-operative selecting their own approved solicitor.

When buying a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the buyer’s solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a property lawyer has to be on that lender's list of approved lawyers. An application has to be made by the conveyancing practitioner to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the property lawyer has to fulfill. Some mortgage companies now insist their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should call Co-operative to find out if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on Co-operative's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Pontarddulais lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another property lawyer into the mix.