My husband and I are planning to acquire a house in Carshalton and have instructed a Carshalton conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Accord Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Carshalton solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Carshalton lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

We're in Carshalton, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Kent Reliance , and our lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no solicitor should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

What can a local search inform me concerning the property we're purchasing in Carshalton?

Carshalton conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search organisations for example Xpress Legal The local search plays an important part in many a Carshalton conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any unpleasant surprises after you move into your property. The search should reveal information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 subject areas.

I'm buying my first flat in Carshalton with a mortgage from Yorkshire Building Society. The sellers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my solicitor about this deal as it could adversely affect my loan with Yorkshire Building Society. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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'm converting the mortgage on my existing home to a buy to let mortgage with National Westminster Bank and I will use the rest of the raised equity as a down payment on another property. The area we are looking at is Carshalton. Will your solicitors be able to act for the two lenders and link together the conveyances?

Do use our search tool on this site to be sure that the solicitors are approved by both mortgage companies. Having checked that they are the lawyer will be able to connect the two conveyancing matters but you should talk with you lawyer and communicate your desired outcome and needs.