I am acquiring an apartment in Hambleton. My lawyer is not on the lender solicitor panel. Can I still use my Hambleton conveyancing solicitor even though they are excluded from the mortgage company approved list?

Various options include

• Complete the deal with your chosen Hambleton solicitor but your mortgage company will no doubt appoint a property lawyer on their approved panel. This will result in additional cost and potential interruption.
• Appoint a new conveyancing practitioner to act in the purchase, making sure they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
• Appeal to your property lawyer to apply to join the lender panel

Are the Hambleton conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Bank of Ireland?

Hambleton conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Bank of Ireland directly.

The Hambleton conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in Hambleton have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Aldermore conveyancing panel and my previous Hambleton lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Aldermore conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.

We are buying a flat in Hambleton. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we have to deposit money into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our money?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

is it true that all Hambleton solicitor firms on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of mortgage companies do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

Planning on purchasing a apartment in Hambleton. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.

They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Hambleton property lawyer is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel.

How does conveyancing in Hambleton differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Hambleton come to us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Hambleton tend to buy the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Hambleton or who has acted in the same development.