My wife and I are intent on acquiring a ground floor flat in Manselton. My property lawyer is not on the lender conveyancing list. Is it possible for me to use my Manselton conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the mortgage company list of approved lawyers?

You have a number of options open to you here

• Carry on with your existing Manselton conveyancing practitioner but your bank will need to use a conveyancing practitioner from their approved panel. The net result is additional charges and probable delay.
• Appoint a new conveyancing practitioner to conduct the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
• Convince your conveyancer to do everything within their powers to get accepted on the lender’s conveyancing panel

My relative recommended that if I am buying in Manselton I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

This is a search is usually included in the estimate for your Manselton conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Manselton around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Manselton Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Manselton.

I'm buying a new build house in Manselton with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The estate agent told me not reveal to my lawyer about the deal as it may put at risk my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.

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 decided to have a survey done on a property in Manselton prior to retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. Our surveyor advised that some lenders tend not give a mortgage on this type of home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Manselton. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Manselton especially if they are acquainted with such properties in Manselton.

Should I be concerned about 3rd parties that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use an internet conveyancing firm rather than a local Manselton conveyancing practice?

As is the case with lots of service providers, often referrals from connections can be extremely useful or valuable. Yet there are numerous people with a vested interest in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks may recommend conveyancers to use. Sometimes the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but sometimes there exists a financial incentive behind the endorsement. You have the discretion to choose your preferred conveyancer. You need to be aware that many banks specify a panel list of conveyancers you must use for the lender related work in your house move.