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You will need to have a conveyancer complete the legal work required when you take out a ASTRA mortgages mortgage to buy your property. They’ll carry out all the necessary legal checks on the property, make sure that you’re properly registered as the owner and ensure that all the necessary mortgage documentation is in place. You can instruct a conveyancing firm of your choice. However, if the firm selected is not a member of the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel additional costs will be incurred as separate legal representation will be required by ASTRA mortgages. Conveyancing panel applications can be submitted, so if your conveyancer has not previously applied for membership they can do so.

Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the person or body they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing business. The Terms and Conditions that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that ASTRA mortgages also require certain documents to be viewed. If a you refuse to provide ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with ASTRA mortgages CML Handbook requirements last updated on ASTRA mortgages

As opposed to twenty years ago, most lenders no longer require their conveyancing panel solicitor to witness the borrowers signature. You will still be obliged to provide ID Documents and there are still distinct advantages to using a local solicitor, in your case a conveyancing solicitor in Bristol .

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist

Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your solicitors can charge a fee for this. This fee is not set by ASTRA mortgages but by your lawyers. Some firms on the ASTRA mortgages will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee but plenty of firms include it on their overall fee.

There is no definitive answer here. Have ASTRA mortgages completed the survey? Have you advised ASTRA mortgages as your lawyers details and checked that your lawyer is on the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel? sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued

It would be sensible to have your start your search soon rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on the the estate agent. As you are getting a mortgage with ASTRA mortgages , ask your prospective lawyers check they are on the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.