My fiance and I are hoping to buy a 2 bedroom apartment in Royal Tunbridge Wells with a homeloan from Lloyds TSB Bank.We would like to retain our Royal Tunbridge Wells conveyancing practitioner but Lloyds TSB Bank says his firm is not on their approved list of firms. It seems we are left with no choice but to instruct a Lloyds TSB Bank panel lawyer or keep our high street solicitor and fork out for a Lloyds TSB Bank panel lawyer to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?

No, not really. The home loan offered to you contains terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will be on the Lloyds TSB Bank approved list. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find 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 lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Lloyds TSB Bank

After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Royal Tunbridge Wells. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Not long after, the conveyancer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Lloyds 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 Lloyds 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 was told two weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by Virgin Money. Is it usual for Virgin Money to only issue the offer once my solicitor in Royal Tunbridge Wells is approved on their conveyancing panel? Virgin Money have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their PI Insurance.

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

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Royal Tunbridge Wells lawyer having checked that they are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Yorkshire BS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Yorkshire BS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Royal Tunbridge Wells surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

I'm buying my first flat in Royal Tunbridge Wells with a mortgage from Nationwide Building Society. The builders refused to budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about this deal as it would impact 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'm converting the mortgage on my existing house to a buy to let mortgage with Accord Mortgages Ltd and I will use the ballance of the raised equity as a deposit on another house. The neighborhood we are interested in is Royal Tunbridge Wells. Will your solicitors be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and link together the conveyances?

Make use of our comparison tool on this site to be sure that the conveyancers are approved by both banks. On the basis that they are the solicitor will be able to simultaneously deal with the two transactions but you should have a chat with you solicitor and make clear your expectations and needs.

My husband and I are new on the property ladder - agreed a price, yet the property agent advised that the seller will only issue a contract if we instruct the agent's preferred lawyers as they are insisting on an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a local solicitor used to conveyancing in Royal Tunbridge Wells

It is unlikely the owners are behind this. Should the owner desire ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated purchaser is not the way to achieve this. Bypass the agents and go straight to the owners and make the point that (a)you are genuine purchasers (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you intend to instruct your own,trusted Royal Tunbridge Wells conveyancing firm - rather thanthe ones that will give the negotiator at the agency a kickback or hit his conveyancing figures pre-set by HQ.