My husband and I are looking to acquire a house in Redcar and are in fact using a Redcar conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. TSB have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Redcar lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Redcar lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

In the event thatI were to buy a straightforward housein Redcar mortgage fee and have no survey and no conveyancing searches how much would I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Redcar?

The sole saving you would achieve is the disbursement for searches. The solicitor is required to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, communicating with your sellers property lawyer, stamp duty submission, register the title etc. A marginal saving might be made by not having to register a charge but it will not be significant.

I am buying a new build house in Redcar benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my solicitor about the side-deal as it could put at risk my loan with the bank. 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 am looking for a flat up to £305k and found one close by in Redcar I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, however it's only got 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Redcar for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

How do I locate a Redcar law firm on the Skipton Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am willing to travel upto 10miles to meet the conveyancer.

You can use the facility on this website. Please pick a bank and your location and you will see a number of Redcar conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have listed some Redcar conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can ring them to verify whether they are on the Skipton Building Society member panel