My fiance and I are planning to buy a house in Leven and are in fact using a Leven conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Birmingham Midshires have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Leven solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Leven lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

My partner and I are purchasing our first home. Our conveyancer has texted usto enquire if we would like to order supplemental conveyancing searches. Frankly we in the dark as to what's necessary for conveyancing in Leven

The quantity and type of Leven conveyancing searches depends entirely on the property, the location, the possibility of any of these risks, your knowledge of the region and risks, your general approach to risk. What is important is that you properly appreciate what information each search could give you. Then you can decide if you consider that you need that information. Should you be unclear, ask the solicitor to advise.

The mortgage over my property is with Nationwide for my property in Leven. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Nationwide?

Nationwide must be informed of your intention prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nationwide’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Nationwide directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Nationwide conveyancing panel solicitor.

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 Leven is approved on their conveyancing panel? Virgin Money have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their PI Insurance.

A lender would 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.

Barclays have agreed my home loan in principle, my bid on a flat in Leven has been accepted, now what?

Your property agent will need to be informed of your property lawyer's details (ensure that the solicitors are on the bank’s approved list). Call up Barclays or your broker and finish off any appropriate documentation. Barclays will appoint a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or owners to arrange an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Barclays will send the offer to you and your lawyers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Leven.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our house can not be found. The solicitors who did the conveyancing in Leven 5 years ago no longer exist. What do I do?

You no longer need to hold title original deeds to establish that you are the registered proprietor of land or property, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

As co-executor for the will of my aunt I am disposing of a property in Cardiff but live in Leven. My conveyancer (based 200 miles from mehas requested that I execute a statutory declaration before the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in Leven to attest and place their company stamp on the document?

Technically speaking you are not likely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or qualified solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are based in Leven