I am buying a house for cash in Westerham. I have resided for the previous dozen years in Westerham. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I have knowledge of the road and vicinity intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?

Provided that you do not need a mortgage, then almost all of the Westerham conveyancing searches are optional. Your lawyer will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches completed, but he is duty bound to do this. Do take into account; if you are likely to dispose of the house at a future date, it may be of importance to your future buyer what the searches determine. On occasion premises with day to day issues can still throw up detrimental search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Westerham should provide you some practical advice concerning this.

My wife and I have a terraced Victorian property in Westerham. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Halifax. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. 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 for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Westerham and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage 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 lawyer who conducted the conveyancing.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Westerham is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Westerham are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Westerham you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Westerham may determine 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 property.

Am I best advised to choose a Westerham conveyancing lawyer in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? We have a good friend who can conduct the conveyancing but his firm is located 400miles away.

The primary upside of using a local Westerham conveyancing firm is that you can pop in to execute documents, present your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a plus. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and they were impressed that should outweigh using an unknown Westerham conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.

I'm buying a property in Westerham. I can find my conveyancer's company on the CLC list, but I can't see my conveyancer's name as listed on the regulator's website. Is this a big problem?

Not all staff in the company must be listed by the regulator. As long there is a manager qualified to 'oversee' the work, the actual day-to-day activity can be undertaken by unlicensed staff.