My husband and I are buying a brand new apartment in Lavenham and my lawyer is advising me that she is duty bound to the bank to disclose incentives from the seller. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange contracts and I have no desire to prolong the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

I opted to have a survey done on a property in Lavenham ahead of appointing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor has said that some lenders may not grant a loan on a flying freehold home.

It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Lavenham. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Lavenham especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Lavenham.

I have been advised by numerous selling agents in Lavenham to locate a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial advantage for Estate Agents to market your site over another?

We refuse to give any referral fee for sending work in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

My husband and I are FTB’s - agreed a price, yet the agent advised that the seller will only move forward if we instruct their chosen conveyancers as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. We would rather use a high street conveyancer used to conveyancing in Lavenham

We suspect that the seller is not behind this ultimatum. If they require ‘a quick sale', turning down a serious buyer is going to damage their objectives. Contact the owners directly and explain that (a)you are genuine purchasers (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you will continue to appoint your preferred Lavenham conveyancing solicitors - rather thanthose that will earn the estate agent a introducer fee or achieve conveyancing figures demanded by HQ.

Is planning permission required to convert a single dwelling into a couple of flats in Lavenham? This has taken place to a property adjacent to my house in Lavenham and was unaware of it happening until it was complete.

Planning Permission yes. Building Reg Approval yes.