My fiance and I are hoping to buy a house in Benton and are in fact using a Benton 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. have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Benton solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Benton lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

My solicitor has informed me that absentee landlord insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Benton conveyancing?

The right level of absentee landlord indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between and . Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such insurances.

Can I be sure that the Benton conveyancing solicitor on the panel is any good?

When it comes to conveyancing in Benton obtaining recommendations is a good start. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one which is cheap as chips. We would always advocate that you speak with the lawyer handling your conveyancing.

I had a mortgage agreed in principle with . Benton conveyancing practitioners have been appointed. How long does it take for to send the offer to the ?

Some lenders take longer than others. Have done the valuation? Have you advised as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.

I am buying a new build house in Benton with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The estate agent suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about this extras as it will impact my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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 purchased a leasehold flat in Benton, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Benton with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 50

You have 50 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £36,100 and £41,800 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

We are about to buying a property in Benton. Conveyancing is not over but we wish to keep the amount we are are purchasing for confidential from the likes of Zoopla. How can this be done?

HMLR as a matter of law required to note price sold data on a register of the title for domestic properties nationwide which includes properties in Benton. The register of title is an open document, so HMLR would be breaking the law if they did not allow access to the register.

In essence you can ask HM Land Registry to hide the price paid entry however the response will be in the negative.