My husband and I are intent on buying a leasehold flat in Kendal. My property lawyer is not listed on the mortgage company approved list. Am I still permitted to retain my Kendal conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the mortgage company panel?

Various options include

• Proceed with your preferred Kendal lawyer but your mortgage company will need to use a lawyer from their approved list. The net result is additional fees together with likely interruption.
• Appoint a new solicitor to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
• Convince your lawyer to pull out all the stops to get accepted on the lender’s conveyancing panel

My grandmother passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Kendal. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to UBS, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

If you intend to re-mortgage then UBS will require that you use a conveyancer on the UBS conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your UBS conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the UBS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

Should commercial conveyancing searches reveal planned roadworks that may impact a commercial property in Kendal?

Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Kendal will conduct a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers invest in sourcing accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Kendal. The search result provides definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Kendal.

For each commercial conveyancing transaction in Kendal it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately could cause delays to Kendal commercial conveyancing transactions as well as present a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not carried out for residential conveyancing in Kendal.

Me and my brother have a 4 bedroom Victorian property in Kendal. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Bank of Ireland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??

You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Kendal and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who completed the work.

As co-executor for the will of my grandmother I am disposing of a house in Newport but reside in Kendal. My conveyancer (based 235 kilometers awayneeds me to sign a stat dec prior to completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in Kendal who can attest this legal document for me?

Technically speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally or notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are Kendal based