We note that you have a search directory listing law firms on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a commission if I retain them for our own conveyancing in Southwick?

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

The Southwick conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Southwick have without warning closed. I chose them because I had to have a lawyer on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and my preferred Southwick lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What should be my next steps?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to assist.

I own a terraced Edwardian house in Southwick. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Chelsea Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You should assess 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 proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Southwick 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 buyers. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who completed the work.

I'm buying my first flat in Southwick with a loan from Skipton Building Society. The sellers would not move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not reveal to my lawyer about the extras as it will impact my mortgage with the lender. 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.

I was advised by two or three local estate agents in Southwick to locate a property lawyer on your site. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to recommend your site ahead of alternative conveyancing organisations?

We don’t give any financial incentive for sending work in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.