My partner and I are hoping to acquire a house in Syston and are in fact using a Syston conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Syston conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Syston solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

This question may be naive but I am new to the process as FTB of a ground floor flat in Syston. Do I collect the keys to the premises on completion from my solicitor? If so, I will find a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Syston?

On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Syston. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the owner’s lawyers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to receive the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.

is it true that all Syston solicitors on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of mortgage companies do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the organisation would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Syston. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Shortly after, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society 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.

Should my solicitor be raising enquiries regarding flooding as part of the conveyancing in Syston.

Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers dealing with homes in Syston. There are those who buy a house in Syston, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable building insurance, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.

Lawyers are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a number of searches that can be carried out by the buyer or on a buyer’s behalf which will figure out the risks in Syston. The standard completed inquiry forms sent to a buyer’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual inquiry of the vendor to discover if the premises has ever been flooded. If the property has been flooded in past and is not disclosed by the owner, then a purchaser may issue a compensation claim stemming from an incorrect response. A purchaser’s lawyers may also order an enviro search. This will disclose whether there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be conducted.

How do I identify a Syston law firm on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel? I am a keen cyclist and am prepared to travel upto 10miles to meet the lawyer.

You can use the search on this page. Please select a bank and your location and you will see a number of Syston conveyancing lawyers based on proximity. We have detailed some Syston conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can call them to see whether they are on the Birmingham Midshires panel

As co-executor for the estate of my grandfather I am disposing of a house in Cardiff but I am based in Syston. My solicitor (based 260 kilometers awayhas requested that I execute a stat dec before completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Syston to attest this legal document for me?

Technically speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will do regardless of whether they are located in Syston