The vendors of the home we are purchasing have instructed a conveyancing solicitor in West Sussex who has suggested a preliminary agreement with a deposit of 5k. Are such agreements sensible?

This type of agreement isn't frequently used in West Sussex, conveyancers are often inclined to veer clients away from them as they detract from the primary objective, namely conveyancing and if you end up having your deposit forfeited then the solicitor at best left with an upset client and at worst a litigious one. In addition, there is no certainty that just because the proprietor has signed an exclusivity agreement they will complete the sale with you. They may be in contravention of the agreement if they receive a big enough offer to do so because an aggrieved party with the benefit of a exclusivity agreement will still be legally obliged to establish consequential losses from the breach and these may not compare to the financial upside that the owner may gain by reneging on the agreement, however morally condemnable the behaviour is.

We see that you have a search directory identifying firms on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I instruct them for our conveyancing in West Sussex?

We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in West Sussex.

Me and my partner are purchasing a house in West Sussex. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a lawyer? At some point we have to put funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our money?

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.

This question may be naive but I am new to the home moving as a 1st time purchaser of a garden flat in West Sussex. Do I collect the keys to the house on completion from my solicitor? If so, I will find a High Street conveyancing solicitor in West Sussex?

On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in West Sussex. Your solicitors will arrange to send the purchase money to the owner’s solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be called to pick up the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs between 1 and 3pm.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in West Sussex. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £150. Not long after, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Barclays 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 Barclays 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.

How does conveyancing in West Sussex differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build residence in West Sussex approach us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is built. This is because new home sellers in West Sussex typically acquire the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in West Sussex or who has acted in the same development.

I need to change lawyers as my West Sussex lawyer is not on the lender's approved list of conveyancing solicitors. Is it practical to instruct different lawyers?

In the event that you have not formally instructed a solicitor to start work and have just received quotes, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer in West Sussex that you're thinking of instructing.