I am in the process of selling my ground floor flat in Salcombe and the estate agent has just called to say that the buyers are changing their solicitor. The reason given is that the lender will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a major mortgage company only engage with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Salcombe ?

Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are content to work with, 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 worked with them for many years.

Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says 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 buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

My fiance and I changing mortgage lender for our penthouse in Salcombe with UBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the UBS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your UBS conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to UBS. This is solely used to protect UBS if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of UBS had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

My home in Salcombe is up for sale and I have a buyer. Does my conveyancing practitioner have to be required to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Aldermore conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently currently.

I am buying a new build house in Salcombe with a loan from Britannia. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not inform my lawyer about this side-deal as it could jeopardize my mortgage with the bank. 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.

We're new on the property ladder - had an offer accepted, yet the agent has warned us that the owners will only proceed if we instruct their preferred conveyancers as they need a ‘quick sale’. We would rather use a high street conveyancer accustomed to conveyancing in Salcombe

It is unlikely the sellers are behind this. If they desire ‘a quick sale', turning down a genuine buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Speak to the owners direct and make the point that (a)you are serious purchasers (b)you are ready to progress, with finances in place © you are unencumbered (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you are going to use your own,trusted Salcombe conveyancing firm - as opposed tothose that will give the estate agent a commission or meet his conveyancing figures pre-set by senior management.