Me and my partner are planning to buy a 1 bedroom flat in Kidwelly with a mortgage. We like our Kidwelly solicitor, but the mortgage company advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or retain our Kidwelly conveyancer as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We regard this is inequitable; is there anything we can do?

Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer 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 Kidwelly conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

I am buying a property mortgage free in Kidwelly. I have resided for the previous Seventeen years in Kidwelly. Conveyancing searches are expensive. As I know the road and vicinity very well must I have all the conveyancing searches?

If you not getting a home loan, then all but one or two of the Kidwelly conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your solicitor will try and steer you, no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches completed, but he is duty bound to take that path of guidance. One thing to consider; if you are likely to sell the house in the future, it could be of relevance to your future purchaser what the searches disclose. There are plenty of instances where properties with day to day issues can still show up detrimental search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Kidwelly will provide you some practical guidance in this regard.

My home in Kidwelly is up for sale and I have a buyer. Does the solicitor have to be required to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Lloyds 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 conditions fairly frequently at the moment.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Kidwelly I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Kidwelly suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?

Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the 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 ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

Our estate agent has recommended their solicitor for our conveyancing in Kidwelly - won’t it be easier to just instruct them?

This is not necessarily the case and you are free to use whichever conveyancer of your choosing for your Kidwelly home move. The solicitor suggested by a 3rd party adviser may not necessarily be the best conveyancing practitioner, they may recommend their own conveyancing firm who are based far away. In this instance you may not have contact with your solicitor and due to the lack of continuity in the transaction, it may be difficult to obtain progress reports.