Me and my fiance are planning to acquire a 3 bedroom flat in St Annes Park with a mortgage. We have a St Annes Park solicitor, but the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have no choice but to use one of the lender panel solicitors or continue with our St Annes Park and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. We feel that this is unjust; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your St Annes Park conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unexperienced as a first time buyer of a garden flat in St Annes Park. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will appoint a High Street conveyancing solicitor in St Annes Park?

On the day of completion you will not be required to go to the conveyancers office in St Annes Park. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the completion advance to the vendor’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you will be able to collect the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

We previously instructed conveyancing lawyers located in St Annes Park on the solicitor approved list. They have just billed me a separate amount for dealing with the mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by ?

Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your is entitled to levy a fee for this. The charge is not set by but by your St Annes Park . Some firms on the panel will charge ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but some firms include it on their overall fee.

I currently have a mortgage with for my property in St Annes Park. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform ?

must be informed of your intention prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of ’s mortgage conditions. It may be that will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a conveyancing panel solicitor.

The deeds to my house are lost. The conveyancers who handled the conveyancing in St Annes Park 10 years ago are no longer around. What are my options?

Gone are the days when you need to have the physical deeds to establish that you own the land or property, given that the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

My husband and I are one month into a freehold purchase having been directed to conveyancers by the selling agent to do our conveyancing in St Annes Park. I am not happy. Could you help me find new conveyancers?

A conveyancer would have to be really poor in order to consider changing them. Has your mortgage offer been generated? If so you need to advise them of the new contact details and get the loan are re-issued. Your solicitor ideally needs to be on the mortgage company panel to avoid added expenses and complications. That should be your first question of the new solicitors. Our find a solicitor tool should help you find a bank approved conveyancer for your conveyancing in St Annes Park

Our financial adviser has recommended their for my conveyancing in St Annes Park - Surely it’s advisable to just use them?

You need to establish if the selling agent is recommending a or introducing to a . There are plenty of St Annes Park estate agents who recommend two or three St Annes Park conveyancing firms purely based on those lawyers offering a great service.