It has come to my attention via my IFA that my Winterbourne lawyer is not on the bank Conveyancing panel. How can I check?

Your first step should be to call your Winterbourne conveyancer. You lawyer should notify you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they may recommend you to a Winterbourne conveyancing firm that is on the approved list of lawyers for your lender.

I am buying my first flat in Winterbourne with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not inform my conveyancer about the extras as it will impact my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one close by in Winterbourne I like with open areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Winterbourne in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a home loan that many years will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may ask them to start the process of the extension and pass 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 regarding this.

As co-executor for the estate of my uncle I am selling a residence in Newport but I am based in Winterbourne. My solicitor (based 260 kilometers from mehas requested that I sign a statutory declaration before the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing practitioner in Winterbourne who can attest this legal document for me?

Technically speaking you are unlikely to need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or qualified solicitor will do regardless of whether they are based in Winterbourne

My husband and I are buying a garden flat in Winterbourne. When we first instructed lawyer, we were told they were on all major UK mortgage company panels. The mortgage broker called just now to say that they are not on the Principality approved list. Were it to be true, what should we do? Do we simply choose a different lawyer that is on their panel or do we cover the costs for separate representation, with Principality selecting their own preferred conveyancing practitioner.

If you are acquiring a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the buyer’s lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a solicitor has to be on that lender's list of approved lawyers. An application has to be made by the property lawyer to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the lawyer has to fulfill. Some banks now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact Principality and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on Principality's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Winterbourne lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.