We are purchasing a apartment in Northumberland. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a lawyer? At some point we will need to send funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

is it true that all Northumberland solicitor practices on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Kent Reliance approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many mortgage companies do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be governed by the CLC.

I had an offer accepted on an apartment in Northumberland on 22/7/2025, valuation was booked 4 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Principality and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Principality to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Principality conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Me and my brother own a renovated Victorian property in Northumberland. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Santander. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same address. Is it worth asking Santander to clarify?

You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Northumberland and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.

I'm buying a new build house in Northumberland with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my conveyancer about the deal as it may affect my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

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.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Northumberland I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Northumberland in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.

I am looking to sell my home. My former lawyers closed down. It would be helpful to have a recommendation of a conveyancing firm. I happen to live in Northumberland if that affects matters.

Do use our search tool to help you choose a solicitor for your conveyancing in Northumberland. We have connected thousands of home buyers and sellers with lender approved solicitors to ensure that the legalities of their house move goes with a minimum of fuss.