My fiance and I are intent on purchasing an apartment in Bedfordshire. My property lawyer has never been on on the bank approved list. Am I still permitted to continue with my Bedfordshire conveyancing solicitor even though they are excluded from the lender panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?

Various options include

• Complete the deal with your existing Bedfordshire property lawyer but your bank will undoubtedly appoint a conveyancing practitioner on their approved panel. This will result in additional cost and potential delay.
• Choose a fresh conveyancer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
• Convince your conveyancing practitioner to attempt to join the lender panel

What happens if my solicitor is removed from the Barclays Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Bedfordshire?

The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.

We are getting the release of further monies on our mortgage from Co-operative as we want to carry out a loft conversion to our home in Bedfordshire. Do we need to choose a nearby Bedfordshire solicitor on the Co-operative conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?

Co-operative would not normally instruct firms on their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Co-operative list.

After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Bedfordshire. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Shortly after, the solicitor contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nottingham panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I am due to exchange contracts on my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in October 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s lender, Virgin Money are being a right pain. The Bedfordshire solicitor who is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but Virgin Money are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Virgin Money have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that Virgin Money have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Virgin Money 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 need to instruct a conveyancing lawyer in Bedfordshire for my house move. Is there any facility to review a solicitor's complaints history with the profession’s regulator?

You can search for published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions resulting from investigations commenced on or after Jan 2008. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For records Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors record, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. International callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could monitor call for training purposes.

The property lawyers carrying out our conveyancing in Bedfordshire has sent documents to review that reveal that the property is unregistered with epitome documents. Why is the property not registred at the Land Registry?

Although the vast majorities of properties in Bedfordshire are now registered with HM Land Registry there are still a few that remain unregistered. Any property in Bedfordshire that has been transferred since the late 1980’s will have been registered at the HMLR under the compulsory ‘first registration’ scheme. However, if a Bedfordshire property has not changed hands in that time then it’s likely the old fashioned title deeds will be the only evidence of ownership.Plenty of Bedfordshire conveyancing lawyers will be able to handle this type of conveyancing but if any uncertainty prevails the standard proposition these days is for the vendor’s solicitor to register it first and then deal with the sale conveyance - this will have a domino effect to result in a prolonged conveyancing.