My wife and I are hoping to purchase a house in Wigan and have instructed a Wigan conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Barclays Direct have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Wigan lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Wigan lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Can the conveyancing lawyers indexed on your site perform right to buy conveyancing in Wigan?

We do have numerous conveyancing specialists who can handle right to buy transactions Do e-mail the conveyancers listed to get a costs illustration.

Will my conveyancer be raising enquiries concerning flooding during the conveyancing in Wigan.

Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers carrying out conveyancing in Wigan. Some people will purchase a house in Wigan, completely expectant that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical destruction, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Lawyers are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a number of searches that can be undertaken by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which will figure out the risks in Wigan. The standard information sent to a purchaser’s lawyer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) includes a standard question of the vendor to discover whether the property has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred and is not notified by the owner, then a buyer may issue a compensation claim as a result of such an inaccurate response. A purchaser’s solicitors should also carry out an environmental search. This will reveal whether there is any known flood risk. If so, further investigations will need to be conducted.

I'm buying my first flat in Wigan with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The property agent advised me not disclose to my solicitor about this extras as it will put at risk my loan with the lender. 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.

What does commercial conveyancing in Wigan cover?

Wigan conveyancing for business premises covers a broad range of services, provided by qualified solicitors, relating to business property. By way of example, this area of conveyancing can cover the sale or purchase of freehold business premises or, more commonly, the assignment of existing business tenancies or the drafting of new leasing arrangements. Commercial conveyancing solicitors can also offer advice on the sale of business assets, commercial mortgages and the termination of tenancies.