We're in West Wickham, First timers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Skipton , and our lawyer is on the Skipton conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Skipton conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in West Wickham. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £150. A couple of days later, the conveyancer contacted me to say that they were not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nottingham panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

My offer was accepted on a property in West Wickham on 13/11/2025, valuation was booked 4 days after, all came back fine. Solicitor appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Leeds Building Society and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Are Leeds Building Society entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Leeds Building Society to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I've digested plenty of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local West Wickham solicitor - who is on the HSBC conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

HSBC will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually HSBC will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your West Wickham postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with HSBC, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in West Wickham.

I am buying a new build house in West Wickham with a loan from Bank of Ireland. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The estate agent told me not reveal to my conveyancer about the side-deal as it would impact my loan with Bank of Ireland. 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.

Do I need to be wary by third parties that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a national conveyancing firm rather than a High Street West Wickham conveyancing practice?

As is the case with lots of service providers, often referrals from relatives can be worth their weight in gold. But there are many players in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders may put forward lawyers to retain. On occasion these lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but occasionally there might be a financial incentive behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to appoint your own lawyer. However, bear in mind that most lenders specify a panel list of solicitors you must use for the lender aspect of your house move.

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in West Wickham. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, but I have recently received a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the maintenance contribution as usual because all ground rent and service payments will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can a leaseholder apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a West Wickham conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a West Wickham premises is 26 Manor Road in July 2010. the Tribunal decided that price to be paid for the freehold was £12,420 This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76.75 and 88.83.