My wife and I are planning to buy a home in Rawtenstall and are in fact using a Rawtenstall conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. TSB have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Rawtenstall lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Rawtenstall solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Rawtenstall costs more?

In summary, leasehold conveyancing in Rawtenstall and elsewhere usually warrants extra due diligence compared to freehold transactions. This includes lease investigation, corresponding with the landlord about the service of applicable notices, obtaining current service charge and management information, securing the landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts. The obligations on both the landlord and the tenant in the lease need to be studied by the buyer’s conveyancing team and read from beginning to end – no matter how many different owners have owned the lease since it was first granted.

Various online forums that I have visited warn that are the main reason for obstruction in Rawtenstall conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the top 10 causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are not likely to feature in any holding up conveyancing in Rawtenstall.

five months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in Rawtenstall completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I'm buying a new build house in Rawtenstall with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not to tell my solicitor about the deal as it could affect my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

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.