Me and my partner are hoping to buy a 2 bedroom flat in Stoke Gifford with a mortgage. We have a Stoke Gifford lawyer, however the lender advise she’s not on their "panel". It seems we have no option but to use one of the mortgage company panel conveyancing practices or keep our Stoke Gifford lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. This feels very unfair; can we not require that the mortgage company use our Stoke Gifford conveyancing practitioner ?

Unfortunately,no. 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 Stoke Gifford conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

In the event thatI were to buy a simple residential propertyin Stoke Gifford mortgage fee and dispense with a survey and no local authority searches how much should I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Stoke Gifford?

Any savings you would gain would be isolated to the disbursement for searches. The conveyancing practitioner is required to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, communicating with the vendors property lawyer, SDLT return, register the ownership etc. A marginal saving might be made by not having to register a mortgage however it won't be significant.

My apartment in Stoke Gifford is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Does my conveyancer need to be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Bank of Ireland 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 at the moment.

I have recentlybecome aware that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Stoke Gifford for a purchase of a leasehold flat 9 months ago. How can I establish that the property is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?

The easiest method to check if the premises is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Stoke Gifford conveyancing specialists.

Am I best advised to instruct a Stoke Gifford conveyancing solicitor in close proximity to the house I am buying? We have a good friend who can handle the conveyancing but his firm is located 400miles away.

The benefit of a local Stoke Gifford conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute paperwork, deliver your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. Having local Stoke Gifford know how is a bonus. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who instructed your friend and they were content that should outweigh using an unknown Stoke Gifford conveyancing solicitor just because they are Stoke Gifford based.