I am planning to acquire a house and require a conveyancing solicitor in Ruabon who is on the Halifax approved. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a conveyancing firm?

Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Halifax in certain locations such as Ruabon. We dont recommend any particular firm.

Last month we had a mortgage agreed in principle with Co-operative. Ruabon conveyancing lawyers are instructed. How long does it take for Co-operative to issue the offer to the conveyancing practitioner?

There is no definitive answer here. Have Co-operative done the valuation? Have you advised Co-operative as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.

After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Ruabon. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £175. A few days later, the conveyancing practitioner called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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 have instructed a Ruabon solicitor having made sure that they are on the RBS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

RBS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually RBS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Ruabon surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

My wife and I own a renovated Victorian house in Ruabon. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Accord Mortgages Ltd. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Ruabon and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who completed the work.

I am purchasing my first flat in Ruabon with a loan from Virgin Money. The sellers refused to move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not inform my lawyer about the side-deal as it would put at risk my mortgage with Virgin Money. Is this normal?.

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.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Ruabon is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Ruabon are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Ruabon you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Ruabon may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.