Our family lawyer has sent a quote for £995 for fixed fee conveyancing in Twickenham Park. I’m hoping to downsize from a modern detached home for £175,000. Are these estimated fees excessive? Is it in excess of what I should be paying for conveyancing in Twickenham Park?

The charges are a bit high. If you are content to expend time comparing charges you might shave off some of the expense by as much as £100 plus VAT. That being said, you mightlive to regret choosing an an unknown solicitor. Remember to enquire the firm can act for your lender. You can make use of our comparison tool to find a Twickenham Park conveyancing company on the lender’s conveyancing panel which can often include conveyancing solicitors in Twickenham Park.

I have justbecome aware that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Twickenham Park for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 9 months ago. How can I be sure that the property is in my name in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest method to see if the premises is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Twickenham Park conveyancing specialists.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Twickenham Park with a loan from Birmingham Midshires. The builders would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent suggested that I not to tell my solicitor about this side-deal as it may put at risk my loan 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.

I was recommended by a number of selling agents in Twickenham Park to select a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial advantage for Estate Agents to market your lawyers over alternative conveyancing organisations?

We refuse to make any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

My lawyers in Twickenham Park have advised me that they can not locate my conveyancing file. To assist with my purchase I took out a mortgage with the mortgage company. Is it case that being on the bank conveyancing panel they need to have retained the file for a prescribed period?

Different lenders have different requirements but many of the Terms and Conditions of Conveyancing Panel Appointment require the file to be held for a period of 6 years. That being said we have not seen a copy of the mortgage company Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting the lender directly.