Me and my husband are purchasing property in North London. My lawyer is not on the mortgage company approved list. Is it possible for me to retain my North London conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the mortgage company panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?

You have a number of options available to you here

• Proceed with your preferred North London lawyer but your lender will need to instruct a lawyer from their approved panel. The net result is additional charges together with probable delay.
• Appoint a fresh property lawyer to act in the purchase, making sure they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
• Convince your property lawyer to do everything possible to join the mortgage company conveyancing panel

We hope to to buy with Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. I popped in a couple of local companies but am unable to find a North London conveyancing firm on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society panel. Could you assist?

Please do take advantage of the find a conveyancing panel solicitor tool on this page. Please choose the lender and type North London or your preferred area and you will see numerous conveyancers based in North London or nearest you.

We are purchasing a house in North London. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? At some point we will need to send 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.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as a 1st time purchaser of a ground floor flat in North London. Do I receive the keys to the premises on completion from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in North London?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the purchase money to the vendor’s lawyers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be able to receive the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

We expect to receive a DIP from HSBC this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do HSBC recommend any North London solicitors on the HSBC conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?

You will need to appoint North London solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the HSBC conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and HSBC through the process.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in North London?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in North London. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

My husband and I are a couple of weeks into a freehold purchase having been referred to conveyancers by the local agent to handle our conveyancing in North London. We are not happy. Can you help me find new conveyancers?

They would need to be very bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the mortgage been sent? If so you must advise them of the replacement conveyancer and ensure the mortgage documents are issued to the new lawyers. The conveyancer needs to be on the mortgage company panel to avoid added expenses and complications. That should be your first question of the new solicitors. The search tool can help you find a bank approved lawyer for your home move in North London