I am progressing with the sale of my home in Newbiggin By The Sea and the estate agent has just e-mailed to say that the purchasers are changing their solicitor. The reason given is that the lender will only engage with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a major lender only deal with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Newbiggin By The Sea ?

UK lenders have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 15 years.

Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. 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. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.

Would the conveyancing solicitors that you recommend conduct right to buy conveyancing in Newbiggin By The Sea?

We work with numerous conveyancing lawyers carrying out right to buy transactions Do call us in order to secure a costs calculation.

My husband and I are purchasing a newbuild apartment in Newbiggin By The Sea with a residential mortgage from Bank of Scotland.We would like to retain our Newbiggin By The Sea conveyancing lawyer but Bank of Scotland informed us he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint a Bank of Scotland panel firm or keep our high street solicitor and pay for a Bank of Scotland panel lawyer to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that conveyancers will be on the Bank of Scotland approved list. in the past, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Bank of Scotland

If you had a top tip for selecting a conveyancing solicitor in Newbiggin By The Sea what would it be?

We would encourage you not to go for the lowest Newbiggin By The Sea conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you go into the conveyancing with your eyes wide open.

Last month we had a mortgage agreed in principle with Coventry BS. Newbiggin By The Sea conveyancing practitioners are selected. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Coventry BS?

There is no definitive answer here. Have Coventry BS completed the valuation? Have you advised Coventry BS as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel? Sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued.

I am expecting a AIP from Principality this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Principality recommend any Newbiggin By The Sea solicitors on the Principality conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?

You will need to appoint Newbiggin By The Sea solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Principality conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Principality through the process.

I have recentlyfound out that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Newbiggin By The Sea for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 18 months ago. How can I establish that the property is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?

The quickest method to see if the property is in your name, you can make 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 Newbiggin By The Sea conveyancing specialists.