In the event thatI were to buy a simple residential housein Sheerness for cash and have no survey and no local authority searches how much would I expect to to save on my conveyancing in Sheerness?

The only saving you would achieve is the Sheerness conveyancing searches. The solicitor still got to do everything else - money laundering, communicating with your vendors property lawyer, SDLT return, register the title etc. A marginal saving might be made by not having to register a mortgage however it will not be significant.

We're in Sheerness, First time buyers buying with a mortgage (lender is Clydesdale , and our solicitor is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancing practitioner should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

Are all Sheerness Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Santander conveyancing list of approved firms?

A selection of banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to join their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.

We are getting the release of further monies on our home loan from Principality as we want to conduct improvements to our property in Sheerness. Are we obliged to appoint a high street Sheerness solicitor on the Principality conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?

Principality do not ordinarily appoint a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Principality list.

After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Sheerness. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £175. A few days later, the solicitor called me to say that they were not on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Yorkshire BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

My colleague suggested that if I am purchasing in Sheerness I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Sheerness conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Sheerness around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Sheerness Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Sheerness Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Sheerness.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I have offered on last month in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Sheerness is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Sheerness are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Sheerness you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Sheerness may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.