I am 3 weeks into the sale of my home in Stanford Le Hope and the estate agent has just e-mailed to advise that the buyers are swapping law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a leading mortgage company only engage with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope ?

Banks have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the last few years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for decades.

Banks point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say 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. Plenty of firms 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. The buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

Do the conveyancing practitioners indexed on your site perform right to buy conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope?

We have identified a number of conveyancing specialists carrying out right to buy conveyancing matters Do call us to secure a costs illustration.

My wife and I have a terraced Victorian house in Stanford Le Hope. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Chelsea Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Stanford Le Hope and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.

I'm buying a new build house in Stanford Le Hope with a loan from National Westminster Bank. The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative suggested that I not reveal to my lawyer about this side-deal as it would adversely affect my loan with National Westminster Bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

I need to assess costs for conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope from three property lawyer and appoint one. Am I right to get them to sit tight until I have found somewhere to purchase.

You should only ask your property lawyer to start work and order searches once the sales memo has been sent by the estate agent especially as Stanford Le Hope conveyancing searches are costly.