I have given 8 weeks notice to my existing landlord and have to vacate my rented flat in Park Langley by 25/3/2026. Conveyancing for my house purchase is underway. Can I complete in 4 weeks as I wish to avoid having to find short term accommodation?

The normal practice is not to serve notice on a rental unless you have exchanged. Assuming that you have not previously done so, notify to your solicitor and request that they seek the assistance the other side, try to an acceptable time-line that all parties will work towards

My house in Park Langley is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Does my conveyancing practitioner have to be required to be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Kent Reliance 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 currently.

I have been on the look out for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Park Langley I like with open areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Park Langley for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

I would like to rent out my leasehold flat in Park Langley. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Your lease governs relations between the landlord and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will say if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Park Langley do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

Park Langley Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

What is the the remaining lease term? The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees have control and although a managing agent is frequently employed where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Best to be warned if fixing the lift or some other significant cost is coming up that will be shared between the leaseholders and will materially increase the the service costs or require a specific invoice.

My partner and I are buying a 2 bedroom flat in Park Langley. At the point of instructing our property lawyer, they assured us that they were on all major UK lender panels. The financial adviser called yesterday to advise that they are not on the Santander approved list. Were it to be true, what should we do? Should we simply choose a new conveyancing practitioner that is on their approved list or should we pay for dual representation, with Santander selecting their own preferred property lawyer.

Where you are purchasing a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the buyer’s lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a solicitor has to be on that lender's list of approved lawyers. An application has to be made by the solicitor to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict conditions which the solicitor has to meet. Some banks now insist their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should call Santander to find out 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 Santander's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Park Langley lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.