My husband and I wish to acquire a purpose built apartment in Bovey Tracey with a homeloan from Barclays .We use our Bovey Tracey conveyancing practitioner but Barclays says he's not on their approved list of member firms. It seems we have no choice but to instruct a Barclays panel solicitor or keep our preferred solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to act for them. This seems very unfair; Can we not simply insist that Barclays use our lawyer?

Unfortunately,no. The home loan offered to you contains various provisions, a common one being that solicitors must be on the Barclays solicitor panel. in the past, most lenders had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: 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. A further alternative is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Barclays

I just acquired a flat at auction in Bovey Tracey. Conveyancing is required. What happens now?

Having exchanged you now have to retain a conveyancing practitioner quickly as you will have a tight a fixed date to complete the conveyancing. All auction property will have an associated legal set of papers. This will include most,if not all of the paperwork that your conveyancer requires. Where you are dealing with leasehold premises the legal pack should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing documentation relating to a leasehold property. You must pass this on to your appointed conveyancing solicitor ASAP. Do make sure that that you have the requisite funding organised to complete the transaction on the set completion date.

A colleague informed me that in purchasing a property in Bovey Tracey there could be various restrictions prohibiting external alterations to the property. Is this right?

We are aware of a number of properties in Bovey Tracey which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to carry out external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Bovey Tracey should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

I have a mortgage with Yorkshire BS for my property in Bovey Tracey. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Yorkshire BS?

You must advise Yorkshire BS in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Yorkshire BS’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Yorkshire BS directly. You need not do this via a Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel solicitor.

My wife and I have a 4 bedroom Victorian house in Bovey Tracey. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Barclays Direct. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Bovey Tracey and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the position with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the conveyancing.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Bovey Tracey. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.

Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Bovey Tracey

Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided.

Do I need to be concerned about estate agents that I am dealing with are suggesting an internet conveyancing firm rather than a High Street Bovey Tracey conveyancing company?

As with lots of service providers, often referrals from connections can be most helpful. But there are numerous players in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, mortgage brokers and lenders might all suggest solicitors to appoint. Sometimes these lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there might be a financial incentive behind the recommendation. You have the right to appoint your preferred conveyancer. You need to be aware that many lenders operate an approved list of lawyers you must use for the lender related work in your home move.