My husband and I are acquiring a maisonette in Portsmouth. My property lawyer is not listed on the bank conveyancing panel. Am I still permitted to appoint my Portsmouth conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the mortgage company list of approved lawyers?

You have a number of options open to you here

• Carry on with your chosen Portsmouth property lawyer but your bank will need to appoint a solicitor from their approved panel. The net result is additional fees together with potential interruption.
• Choose a new conveyancer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
• Convince your lawyer to pull out all the stops to get listed on the lender’s conveyancing panel

Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Portsmouth is more expensive?

Portsmouth leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving applicable notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.

We are expecting a mortgage offer soon. The lender mentioned the loan came with free conveyancing. Is the implication that I have to instruct their panel solicitor as I would much rather instruct a Portsmouth based conveyancing firm?

You should check but the the likelihood is that appoint one of their panel solicitors should you take up the "fee-free" incentive. Call the mortgage company to explore if they make available a monetary alternative. In the past a few mortgage companies offered a £250 cashback as an alternative in which case that money can go towards your preferred conveyancing solicitor near Portsmouth.

Should I be wary that third parties that I am dealing with are recommending an online conveyancing firm as opposed to a local Portsmouth conveyancing company?

As with many professional services, often recommendations from relatives can be extremely useful or valuable. Yet there are lots of parties with a keen interest in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks may suggest lawyers to use. Sometimes the lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but sometimes there might be a financial incentive behind the recommendation. You have the right to choose your own lawyer. You need to be aware that the majority of banks have an approved list of solicitors you must use for the mortgage aspect of your home move.

I am 18 days into a residential purchase having been recommend to solicitors by the high street agent to do our conveyancing in Portsmouth. We are not happy. Could you you assist me in finding new solicitors?

They would have to be very poor in order to consider changing them. Has the loan offer been sent? In the event that it has you need to inform them of the new conveyancer and have the mortgage documents are issued to the new lawyers. Your conveyancer should be on the banks approved list to avoid escalating fees and delays. So that should be your starting point. The find a solicitor tool should help you find a lender approved conveyancer for your home move in Portsmouth