My partner and I are looking to buy a home in Poplar and are in fact using a Poplar conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Poplar conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Poplar solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

We see that you have a post code search directory listing law firms on the Skipton conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I instruct them for our conveyancing in Poplar?

We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Skipton conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Poplar.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Poplar. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Poplar

Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Please supply a car parking plan. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided.

Due to the advice of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Poplar in advance of retaining lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor has said that some lenders may not give a loan on this type of house.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements for example to Halifax. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Poplar. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

As co-executor for the will of my aunt I am disposing of a house in Newport but live in Poplar. My solicitor (approximately 250 kilometers from mehas requested that I sign a statutory declaration prior to the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing solicitor in Poplar who can attest this legal document for me?

Technically speaking you should not be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or qualified solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are Poplar based