I am one month into the sale of my home in Soho and the estate agent has just telephoned to say that the purchasers are appointing a new conveyancer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only deal with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a major lender only work with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Soho ?

UK lenders have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in recent 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.

Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some 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. The purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our house are lost. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in Soho 10 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?

As long as you have a registered title the information relating to your ownership will be retained by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to perform a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and order current copies of the property title for a small fee. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally retain a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.

I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £305k and found one round the corner in Soho I like with a park and station nearby, however it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Soho for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?

If you require a home loan that many years will likely be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.

My father-in-law has encouraged me to instruct his lawyers for conveyancing in Soho. Should I choose my own conveyancer?

There are no two ways about it the best way to select a conveyancing practitioner is to get recommendations from friends or relatives who have previously instructed the firm you're contemplating using.

A couple of weeks ago I was informed by my bank that their panel lawyers work on no sale no charge basis for conveyancing in Soho. I had a purchase fall through nevertheless the lawyers have invoiced for search fees! They are stating that the fees are independent!

in offering "no sale no fee" Soho conveyancing lawyers are writing off their fees for any work carried out. We must stress this is NOT an insurance scheme. Disbursements aren’t covered – where the lawyer have to pay money out to independent parties, e.g. Soho local search fees