I am nearing exchange of contracts for my home in Camberley and the EA has just e-mailed to advise that the buyers are changing their law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a leading lender only deal with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Camberley ?

UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in recent years big names such as HSBC, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 15 years.

Lending institutions attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – 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 being contacted daily by practices 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. The purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

My husband and I are purchasing a newbuild apartment in Camberley with a mortgage from Barclays .We would like to retain our Camberley conveyancing solicitor but Barclays advised that she’s not on their approved list of firms. We have to appoint a Barclays panel firm or retain our local 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 mortgage issued to you is subject to its various provisions, a common one being that lawyers must be on the Barclays conveyancing panel. in the past, most mortgage companies had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find 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

My partner and I are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our property in Camberley and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being constructed on contaminated land. Any high street Camberley lawyer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers used a web based conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Camberley. Having lived in Camberley for many years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to get clarification that there is no issue.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer already. Are they able to advise? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)

How do I use your search facility to choose a conveyancing solicitor in Camberley on the authorised to act for my bank?

1st select a bank such as Yorkshire Building Society, Virgin Money or TSB then type in your location for example Camberley. Conveyancing practices in Camberley and nationally will then be shown.

My nephew is just in the process of moving house, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the seller agreed the offer on the house we rang the lender to move forward with his. I was very surprised to discover that mortgage companies do not accept all solicitor, they need to be on their approved list, is this correct?

Lenders tend to imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Camberley property lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.