I plan on purchasing a maisonette in Upper Clapton. My Conveyancer is not on the lender conveyancing panel. Am I still permitted to appoint my Upper Clapton conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the lender panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?

You have a couple of alternatives available to you here

• Proceed with your chosen Upper Clapton property lawyer but your bank will no doubt use a conveyancing practitioner from their approved panel. The net result is additional fees and likely frustration.
• Choose a new property lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
• Appeal to your conveyancer to apply to join the bank panel

I require quick conveyancing in Upper Clapton as I have a deadline to complete within one month. A mortgage is not required. Is it possible to decline from having conveyancing searches to save fees and time?

If.Given you are are a mortgage free buyer you are at liberty not to do searches although no lawyer would suggest that you don't. Drawing on our experience of conveyancing in Upper Clapton the following are instances of what can appear and therefore affect market value: Enforcement Actions, Overdue Charges, Outstanding Grants, Road Schemes,...

Me and my brother own a 4 bedroom Georgian property in Upper Clapton. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and The Royal Bank of Scotland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You should assess 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 Upper Clapton and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.

I have been advised by a few estate agents in Upper Clapton to find a conveyancer using your seach tool. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to offer your services over another?

We don’t give any referral fee for directing people our way. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

We're new to the buying process - agreed a price, but the agent told us that the vendor will only issue a contract if we use their chosen solicitors as they want a ‘quick sale’. Our preferred option is to instruct a high street solicitor accustomed to conveyancing in Upper Clapton

It is improbable the vendors are driving this. If they require ‘a quick sale', alienating a motivated purchaser is not the way to achieve this. Speak to the vendors direct and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you intend to appoint your own,trusted Upper Clapton conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will provide the estate agent a commission or hit his conveyancing figures demanded by senior management.