My wife and I are purchasing a 3 bedroom flat in Stone with a mortgage. We have a Stone conveyancer, however the mortgage company advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel firms or continue with our Stone property lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. We regard this is inequitable; are we not able to insist that the lender use our Stone solicitor ?

No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’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. Another option that might be available is for your Stone conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

We were just about to exchange contracts for a property in Stone. We encountered a snag. Our mortgage offer with Accord Mortgages Ltd expires on 14/6/2019 but the owners are suggesting a completion date of 18/6/2019. Is it possible to extend the mortgage expiry date?

The person best placed to address this concern is your conveyancer who should assess whether they corresponding with the mortgage broker, owner’s solicitors, property agents or possibly all three based on what has gone on in your house move to date.

I note that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to take this when acquiring a house in Stone? or I am told that there is historic law that means some owners of property residing in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for repairs to the chancel within the church. Is this a legitimate concern for conveyancing in Stone?

Unless a prior acquisition of the house completed after 12 October 2013 you can expect solicitors handling conveyancing in Stone to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.

I am buying a new build house in Stone with a mortgage from Aldermore. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not inform my solicitor about this side-deal as it would put at risk my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.

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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Stone from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Stone can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale. If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Stone home move. Where a reissued share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible. A minority of Stone leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.

Stone Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

Is the freehold reversion owned collectively by the tenants? What is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property? The majority of Stone leasehold apartments will have a service charge for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the freeholder. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this amount, usually quarterly throughout the year. This may differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large amount, say around £50-£100 but you need to enquire as sometimes it could be prohibitively expensive.