AssumingI was to acquire a simple residential propertyin South Yorkshire mortgage fee and have no survey and no conveyancing searches how much could I expect to to save on my conveyancing in South Yorkshire?

The only saving you would achieve is the disbursement for searches. The property lawyer is obliged to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, correspond with your vendors property lawyer, stamp duty return, register the ownership etc. A marginal saving might be made by not having to register a charge but it will not be a lot.

My husband and I are purchasing a newbuild apartment in South Yorkshire with a mortgage from Chelsea Building Society.We use our South Yorkshire conveyancing solicitor but Chelsea Building Society informed us he's not listed on their "panel". It seems we are left with little choice but to instruct a Chelsea Building Society panel lawyer or keep our local solicitor and pay for a Chelsea Building Society panel lawyer to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?

Unfortunately,no. The loan issued to you contains terms and conditions, one of which will be that conveyancers needs to be on the Chelsea Building Society solicitor panel. in the past, most mortgage companies 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. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Chelsea Building Society

We previously selected solicitors based in South Yorkshire on the Aldermore solicitor approved list. They have just invoiced me a further sum for handling the Aldermore mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Aldermore?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your lawyer can levy a fee for this. The charge is not set by Aldermore but by your South Yorkshire conveyancing practitioner. Plenty of firms on the Aldermore panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee but many practices include it on their overall fee.

I can not work out if my mortgage offer requires a lease extension. I have called my South Yorkshire bank branch on a couple of occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they will lend. My South Yorkshire conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- telephoned to say that they refuse to lend based on their published requirements. Who do I believe?

As long as the property lawyer is on the bank approved list, they must follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook specifications for the bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in South Yorkshire. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Not long after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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 am buying a new build house in South Yorkshire benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not move on the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent suggested that I not reveal to my conveyancer about the deal as it would 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.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £305k and identified one near me in South Yorkshire I like with open areas and transport links nearby, however it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in South Yorkshire in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?

If you need a mortgage that many years will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.