Me and my partner are due to exchange on the purchase of a property in Old St Mellons but as a result of wreckage from a small fire at the property I have managed to agree reparation from the current proprietors in the sum of £3k by way of a reduction in the price. This was going to be dealt with as part of amending the contract however Kent Reliance will not permit this. Should they have been notified?

Any lawyer that is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel is obliged to disclose to Kent Reliance of any changes to the purchase price. If you were to refuse your solicitor to disclose the reduction to Kent Reliance then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, Kent Reliance and you would have to appoint a new solicitor for your conveyancing in Old St Mellons.

As I am unsure how the conveyancing bit works what is the most important piece of guidance you can give me about purchase conveyancing in Old St Mellons?

Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Old St Mellons or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists lots of room for conflict between you and others involved in the legal transfer of property. For example, the vendor, estate agent and even potentially a lender. Appointing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Old St Mellons is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the transaction whose role it is to act in your legal interests and to protect you.

We are witnessing a definite emergence of a "blame" culture- someone must be at fault for the process taking so long. You must always trust your solicitor ahead of all other players when it comes to the legal transfer of property.

My husband and I are buying a 2 bedroom apartment in Old St Mellons with a mortgage from Nottingham Building Society.We would like to retain our Old St Mellons conveyancing practitioner but Nottingham Building Society advised that he's not on their approved list of firms. We have to appoint a Nottingham Building Society panel solicitor or keep our preferred solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you contains various provisions, a common one being that solicitors needs to be on the Nottingham Building Society solicitor panel. in the past, most mortgage companies had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Nottingham Building Society

What does a local search inform me about the house I am buying in Old St Mellons?

Old St Mellons conveyancing often starts with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company for example Xpress Legal The local search plays a central role in most Old St Mellons conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty once you have moved into your property. The search should reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the premises (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 purchasing my first flat in Old St Mellons with a loan from Nationwide Building Society. The builders would not move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The property agent suggested that I not to tell my conveyancer about the deal as it would adversely affect my mortgage with Nationwide Building Society. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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.