My fiance and I are hoping to buy a home in West Malling and have appointed a West Malling conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. TSB have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our West Malling solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 property lawyer should contact your bank 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 and you may continue to use your own West Malling solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
We are purchasing our first house. Our conveyancing practitioner has e-mailedto ask if we would like to purchase supplemental conveyancing searches. We are really unsure what's necessary for conveyancing in West Malling
The type of West Malling conveyancing searches depends primarily on the premises, the location, the probability of any of these risks, your knowledge of the area and risks, your general approach to risk. What matters is that you adequately comprehend what information the searches could supply. Then you can make a decision if you consider that you need that search. Where you are in doubt, ask your solicitor to advise.
Completed the sale of my flat in West Malling last October but my buyer keeps calling me complaining that her conveyancer needs to hear from mylawyer. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?
Post completion of your sale your solicitor should deliver the transfer deeds and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor must also confirm that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been discharged to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion tasks unique to conveyancing in West Malling.
I have just over seventy years remaining on my lease and require a lease extension for my flat in West Malling. Conveyancing solicitors on the Nationwide Building Society panel can deal with such extensions right?
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are securing a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Nationwide Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 4/7/2026 the requirements read as follows :
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in West Malling I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in West Malling for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be an issue. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
My husband and I are a fortnight into a residential purchase having been recommend to solicitors by the high street agent to execute conveyancing in West Malling. I am not happy. Can you you assist me in finding new conveyancers?
They would need to be very bad to suggest changing them. Has the mortgage offer been sent? In the event that it has you need to make them aware of the new contact details and get the mortgage documents are re-sent. Your new solicitor ideally needs to be on the mortgage company approved list to avoid supplemental fees and delays. That should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool will assist you in finding a bank approved conveyancer for your home move in West Malling