My wife and I are purchasing a newly built flat in Sydenham and my solicitor is advising me that she is duty bound to the bank to disclose incentives from the builder. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange and I don't want to prolong deal. Is my lawyer right?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancer. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

As a first time buyer what is the most important piece of guidance you can give me about purchase conveyancing in Sydenham?

Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Sydenham and elsewhere in England and Wales is often a confrontational process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of room for confrontation between you and others involved in the transaction. For instance, the seller, selling agent and on occasion a bank. Appointing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Sydenham should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the transaction whose role it is to act in your best interests and to keep you safe.

There is a worrying increase in the "blame" culture- someone has to be blamed for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you must always trust your conveyancer ahead of all other players when it comes to the legal assignment of property.

Me and my partner are purchasing a house in Sydenham. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? At some point we have to send our life savings into their account. What protection do 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.

When it comes to lenders such as Principality, do Sydenham conveyancing practitioners have to pay an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?

We are not aware of any bank fees to register on their panel, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.

I am due to exchange contracts on my house. I had a double glazing fitted in January 2010, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's lender, Nationwide are being a right pain. The Sydenham solicitor who is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but Nationwide are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Nationwide have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that Nationwide have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Nationwide may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

2 months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in Sydenham completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

There are plenty of properties in Sydenham on unadopted lanes. I am purchasing such a property. Are there any benefits to purchasing a property on a privately owned road?

Sydenham conveyancing solicitors are well versed in dealing propertieson private. The conveyancing practitioner should review the title to find any rights or responsibilities. In many cases there is a residents association that residents make annual payments to maintain the road. If one exists, the road should be maintained and appear better than publicly owned.