Me and my wife are acquiring a flat in St Agnes. My Conveyancer has never been on on the lender solicitor panel. Can I still retain my St Agnes conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the lender approved list?

Various options include

• Complete the deal with your existing St Agnes solicitor but your mortgage company will need to instruct a solicitor from their approved list. The net result is additional fees and probable delay.
• Choose a fresh conveyancer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
• Appeal to your solicitor to seek to join the lender panel

Do the conveyancing lawyers via your comparison service handle conveyancing in St Agnes by way of an attended exchange?

There are a few conveyancing experts carrying out 24hr exchanges. Do call us to secure a costs illustration and details as to availability.

I'm buying my first flat in St Agnes with a loan from Chelsea Building Society. The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my conveyancer about this side-deal as it may put at risk my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and identified one near me in St Agnes I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in St Agnes for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?

Should you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.

I am an executor of my recently deceased aunt’s Will, with a bungalow in St Agnes which is to be marketed. The house has never been registered at HMLR and I'm told that many EAs will insist that it is done before they'll move forward. What's the procedure for this?

In the circumstances that you have set out it seems advisable to seek to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. HMLR’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.