As I am unsure how the conveyancing bit works what is the most important number one tip you can impart regarding purchase conveyancing in Cannock?

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Cannock and elsewhere in Staffordshire is an adversarial experience. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of room for confrontation between you and other parties involved in the transaction. For example, the seller, estate agent and even potentially a bank. Choosing a lawyer for your conveyancing in Cannock is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the process whose interest is to look after your legal interests and to protect you.

We are witnessing a definite ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be blamed for the process taking so long. We recommend that you must always trust your conveyancer above the other parties when it comes to the legal assignment of property.

When it comes to lenders such as Principality, do Cannock lawyers have to pay a yearly amount to be on the conveyancing panel?

We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to register on their panel, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.

We expect to receive a DIP from Lloyds this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Lloyds recommend any Cannock solicitors on the Lloyds conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?

You will need to appoint Cannock solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Lloyds through the process.

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Cannock conveyancer having checked that they are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Nottingham will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Nottingham will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Cannock postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Nottingham, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Cannock.

I have justfound out that Arc property Solicitors have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Cannock for a purchase of a freehold house 10 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is in my name in the name of the previous owner?

The quickest way to check if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Cannock conveyancing specialists.

I am purchasing a new build house in Cannock with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my lawyer about the deal as it could adversely affect my loan with Barclays Direct. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I am looking into buying my first house which is in Cannock and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Cannock. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Cannock area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Cannock. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found