Me and my fiance are purchasing a 2 bedroom apartment in Aylesford with a mortgage. We have a Aylesford solicitor, but the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have little option but to appoint one of the bank panel firms or retain our Aylesford property lawyer and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. We regard this is unjust; can we not require that the mortgage company use our Aylesford lawyer ?

Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Aylesford conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

I am selling my home in Aylesford. Will my property lawyer have to be on the Santander conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Santander conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently in recent years.

I acquired my apartment on 8 May and the transaction details is yet to be on the land registry website. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Aylesford advises it would be formalised in less than a month. Are transfers in Aylesford particularly slow to register?

There is nothing unique about conveyancing in Aylesford registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timeframes can vary subject to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry must send notices to any 3rd persons or bodies. At present approximately 80% of such applications are fully dealt with within 12 days but some can be subject to longer hold-ups. Historically registration is effected once the purchaser is living at the property therefore an expedited registration is not typically top priority yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your lawyers can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.

I am buying a new build apartment in Aylesford. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Aylesford

The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.

My business partner and I are looking to lease a unit on a shopping parade. Can you recommend solicitors offering fixed costs for commercial conveyancing in Aylesford for under 1500k?

We can recommend firms who host a wealth of experience of commercial conveyancing in Aylesford, including the sale and purchase of businesses as well as simply premises. If you are hoping to acquire or sell a shop, pub, restaurant, office, retail unit or a whole business we can put you in touch with the right solicitor. As for the charges these will vary based on the structure and terms of the deal. Let us have your details or email us so that we can supply you with a detailed commercial conveyancing quote.