I am one month into the sale of my home in Rednal and the EA has just e-mailed to say that the purchasers are swapping solicitor. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only engage with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a leading mortgage company only deal with specific law firms rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Rednal ?

UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in recent years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 15 years.

Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Rednal is more expensive?

Rednal leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.

A friend advised me that if I am purchasing in Rednal I should ask my conveyancer to 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 Rednal conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Rednal around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Rednal Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Rednal.

Just acquired a semi-detached house in Rednal , What is the estimated time for the Land Registry to record the transfer to my name? My Rednal conveyancing solicitor has been painfully slow, so I want to check the registration is addressed.

There is nothing unique about conveyancing in Rednal registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timescales can vary depending on who lodges the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry communicate with any 3rd persons or bodies. Currently approximately three quarters of submission are fully addressed in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be extensive hold-ups. Historically registration is effected after the buyer is living at the premises thus an expedited registration is not typically an essential issue yet if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your conveyancer could communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Rednal benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my solicitor about the deal as it will jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.

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.