My husband and I are purchasing a 1 bedroom apartment in Brislington with a mortgage. We have a Brislington solicitor, but the bank says she’s not on their "panel". It appears that we have little option but to select one of the mortgage company panel firms or continue with our Brislington conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. We regard this is unjust; can we not demand that the mortgage company use our Brislington lawyer ?

Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms 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 Brislington conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

Our nephew is purchasing a house that has just been built in Brislington with a mortgage from Bank of Ireland. His lawyer has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?

The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

My relative recommended that where I am purchasing in Brislington I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Brislington conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Brislington around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Brislington Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Brislington Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Brislington.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I have offered on last month in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Brislington is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Brislington are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Brislington you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Brislington may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to be perfect, at a great price which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently found out that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are issues purchasing a leasehold house in Brislington. Conveyancing solicitors have are soon to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Brislington are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Brislington so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Brislington conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the landlord’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

Brislington Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? On the whole the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Brislington ask leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger works. The answer will be useful as a) areas could result in problems for the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where services are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to have all the details