I am in the process of selling my apartment in Addington and the estate agent has just called to advise that the buyers are appointing a new conveyancer. The excuse is that the lender will only work with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only work with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Addington ?

Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for decades.

Lenders blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

My property lawyer in Addington has never been on on the Virgin Money Approved Panel. Can I still continue with my family solicitor even though they are excluded from the Virgin Money panel?

Your options are as follows:

1. Carry on with your existing Addington lawyers but Virgin Money will need to instruct a conveyancer on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the overall legal fees and cause frustration.
2. Get a new solicitor to act in the purchase, remembering to check they are on the Virgin Money panel

We previously selected solicitors located in Addington on the Kent Reliance solicitor approved list. They have just invoiced me a further sum for dealing with the Kent Reliance mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Kent Reliance?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your property lawyer is entitled to charge a fee for this. This fee is not set by Kent Reliance but by your Addington solicitor. Numerous firms on the Kent Reliance panel will levy ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.

Can I be sure that the Addington conveyancing solicitor on the Kent Reliance panel is any good?

When it comes to conveyancing in Addington obtaining recommendations is a good start. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one which is cheap as chips. We would always advise that you speak with the lawyer handling your transaction.

I have paid off my mortgage with RBS. I assume I don't need a Addington lawyer on the RBS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your RBS mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the RBS mortgage from the register. RBS, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where RBS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. RBS has instructed the Land Registry to do so

Do I need to take out insurance to cover chancel repairs when purchasing a property in Addington?

Unless a previous acquisition of the property took place after 12 October 2013 you could assume that conveyancing practitioners delivering conveyancing in Addington to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.

We are about to buying a house in Addington. Can the solicitor have the amount we are are purchasing for private from sites such as Zoopla. Is this possible and how?

HM Land Registry as a matter of law bound to reveal price sold information on the official title for residential properties countrywide including properties in Addington. The register of ownership is an open document, so the Land Registry would be breaching their statutory duty excluded certain properties such as your one in Addington.

In essence you can make a request of HMLR to hide the amount paid entry yet the answer will be in the negative.