IfI was to purchase a simple residential homein Totton for cash and have no survey and no conveyancing searches how much should I expect to to save on my conveyancing in Totton?

Any savings you would gain will be limited to the Totton conveyancing searches. The conveyancer still be obliged to do everything else - money laundering, liaising with the sellers solicitor, stamp duty submission, register the ownership etc. You might save a bit for them not having to register a charge however it will not be significant.

I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Totton I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, however it's only got 61 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Totton for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?

If you need a mortgage that many years may be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

I was advised by a couple of local estate agents in Totton to locate a conveyancer using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your services over and above another?

We refuse to make any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission as home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

Am I best advised to choose a Totton conveyancing lawyer based in the area that I am buying? An old friend can conduct the legal work however her office is a couple of hundredkilometers away.

The primary upside of using a local Totton conveyancing practice is that you can drop in to sign paperwork, deliver your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and the majority were impressed that should surpass using an unfamiliar Totton conveyancing lawyer just because they are round the corner.

My husband and I are hoping to buy a 2 room flatin Totton with a residential mortgage from a mortgage company. We like our lawyer in Totton but our bank inform us now that he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint from the our bank panel firms or stay with our Totton solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that our lender use our Totton lawyer?

No, not really. The lender mortgage offered to you is subject to conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the mortgage company's conveyancing panel. Until recently, most banks had open panels, including almost all conveyancing solicitors in Totton : 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 lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your lender.