My husband and I are hoping to purchase a property in St Andrews and are in fact using a St Andrews conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Alliance & Leicester have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our St Andrews solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred St Andrews lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

We note that you have a post code search directory listing firms on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I instruct them for our conveyancing in St Andrews?

We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in St Andrews.

If you had a top tip for selecting a conveyancing solicitor in St Andrews what would it be?

It would be unwise to be swayed by the lowest St Andrews conveyancing quote. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in advance.

This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as a first time purchaser of a garden flat in St Andrews. Do I pick up the keys to the house on completion from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will find a High Street conveyancing solicitor in St Andrews?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the purchase money to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to receive the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.

I am due to exchange contracts on my house. I had a double glazing fitted in March 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s mortgage company, Bank of Ireland are being difficult. The St Andrews solicitor who is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but Bank of Ireland are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Bank of Ireland have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that Bank of Ireland have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Bank of Ireland may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in St Andrews which have approximately forty five years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in St Andrews. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field.

I bought a garden flat in St Andrews, conveyancing having been completed April 2000. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in St Andrews with over 90 years remaining are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2095

With just 71 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £9,500 and £11,000 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

Do I need to have a meeting at the offices of the mortgage company conveyancing panel solicitor to sign the mortgage deed? If so, I will instruct a firm who offer conveyancing in St Andrews as it will be easier to pop in to their offices if necessary.

As opposed to twenty years ago, most lenders no longer require their conveyancing panel solicitor to witness the borrowers signature. You will still be obliged to provide ID Documents and there are still distinct advantages to using a local solicitor, in your case a conveyancing solicitor in St Andrews.