Find a Lender-Approved Local Conveyancer in Chelsea

Ready to buy a new home? Find a law firm approved by your lender.

If you have reached us by Googling ‘Conveyancing in Chelsea’ follow your intuition — you will have a better house move where you instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Chelsea.

Reasons to use our Chelsea conveyancing solicitors

  • 1 Chelsea lawyers work in partnership with Chelsea estate agents, house builders, surveyors, mortgage companies and other professionals to ensure that the highest level of service is provided to buyers and sellers every step of the way, never losing sight of the time-critical nature behind your conveyancing transaction
  • 2 Regardless other solicitors tell you it just might be necessary to visit your lawyer to sign contracts. Too many 3rd parties are already involved in a house sale without needing to include the postman into the mix.
  • 3 Cut price packages from online conveyancers might be tempting. However, these firms are often based hundreds of kilometers away with little appreciation of the factors that impact property transactions in Chelsea
  • 4 This site is the only site that enables you the ability to check that your property ownership legalities in Chelsea will be carried out by a law firm on your bank authorised panel.
  • 5 Experience means that Chelsea lawyer have developed valuable working relationships with Chelsea local estate agents, banks, building societies, landlords and house builders enabling them to liaise at speed with all concerned in the process of dealing with your conveyancing in Chelsea.

Examples of recent conveyancing in Chelsea since January 2025*

Sale

of flat Battersea Church Road SW11 3NG, at sale amount of £352,000. Leasehold conveyancing included: dealing with appropriate requisitions and enquiries, sending the transfer to the seller for signature in readiness for completion, taking formal instructions from and updating the seller client

Sale

of apartment Queenstown Road SW11 8PP, at the agreed consideration of £785,000. Leasehold conveyancing included: taking formal instructions from and updating the seller client, agreeing completion date with parties, setting up the completion formalities

Purchase

of apartment Gatliff Road SW1W 8QP, at a price of £765,000. Leasehold conveyancing due diligence included: drafting the sale agreement and Transfer, obtaining official copies of the title, setting up the completion formalities

Transfer

of apartment Aurora Gardens SW11 8EF, at sale price of £520,000. Leasehold conveyancing included: dealing with appropriate requisitions and enquiries, taking formal instructions from and updating the seller client, agreeing completion date with parties

Recently asked questions about conveyancing in Chelsea

Am I correct in assuming that the fact that my conveyancer in Chelsea is not listed on my lender's solicitor panel that there is a problem with the standard of her work?

That would most likely be a wrong assumption to make. There are plenty of plausible explanations. A recent report by the solicitors regulator revealed 76% of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The top 5 reasons are as follows: (1) lack of transactions (2) the solicitor is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. Should you be concerned you should contact the Chelsea conveyancing practice and ask them why they are no longer on the approved list for your bank.

I have 71 years left on my lease and require a lease extension for my apartment in Chelsea. Conveyancing solicitors on the Nationwide Building Society panel can deal with such extensions right?

Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are obtaining a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Nationwide Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 13/4/2025 the requirements read as follows :

- Our minimum unexpired lease term is 55 years, except where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat, in which case our minimum unexpired term is 90 years.
- There must be at least 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term (regardless of the length of lease at the start).

Where the unexpired lease term is different to that recorded on the mortgage offer, the following clarifies if we need to be informed:

Second hand property:
- If the unexpired lease term on the offer is 85 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 85 years
- if the unexpired lease term on the offer is less than 85 years – advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported
- For equity share applications - advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
- Where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat and the unexpired lease term on the offer is 90 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 90 years.

New build property:
- If the unexpired lease term stated on the offer is 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house) or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house)
- For equity share applications - always advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer

Lease terms such as ground rent and event fees must be reasonable at all times during the term of the lease and adhere to our requirements below. If you’re unsure as to whether the terms of a lease are unreasonable or onerous, please refer the details to us in plain English for Valuer consideration. If the potentially onerous terms are in relation to the ground rent please include the current ground rent figure per annum, how often it will be reviewed and the price structure it will be reviewed against. See the guidance below.

SECOND HAND PROPERTIES

Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 55 years
- Unexpired lease term less than 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat
- Less than 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term
- Ground Rent greater than 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent doubles less than every 20 years (e.g. doubles every 5, 10 or 15 years) - acceptable if doubles every 20 years or more
- Ground Rent is compounded RPI
- Ground Rent review period is less than or equal to 5 years

Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Unexpired lease term is 55 to 85 years
- Ground Rent greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to any indices greater than RPI
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building*
- Ground Rent review period is greater than 5 and less than 10 years
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial, etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything that appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary

Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than 85 years (Minimum 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat)
- Ground Rent less than or equal to 0.1% of the property value
- Ground Rent review period greater than or equal to 10 years
- Ground Rent escalation less than or equal to RPI

NEW BUILD PROPERTIES (includes office conversions)

Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined)
- Unexpired lease term less than 125 years on a new build flat or less than 250 years on a new build house (does not apply to Shared Ownership)
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis

Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything else appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary

Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than or equal to 125 years on a new build flat or greater than or equal to 250 years on a new build house
- A lease subject to a peppercorn Ground Rent (Annual Rent) charges

For the avoidance of doubt, any New Build properties completed but not sold pre-30 June 2022 will only be acceptable if the Lease conforms to the above guidance.

* Where the Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building, please provide the following:
- How is the value of the block/unit currently calculated and if the assessment relates to the block(s), how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned per property?
- The current valuation and Ground Rent for each unit
- What is the mechanism for future valuations of the block and how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned?
- What is the right of appeal? And is this a documented process within the lease?
- Who bears the cost of the valuation (and appeal) process?
- Confirmation the review period is not less than twenty years.

Lease Extensions

We require all Lease Extensions to be completed under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and to meet the above criteria as a minimum. Where you become aware that it does not meet these requirements, please refer to Issuing Office.

Please ensure that all lender enquiries are submitted (with full documentation/requirements) at least 2 weeks prior to exchange to allow sufficient time for review and decisioning.

I am due to move home in May. Will my conveyancing solicitor liaise with the removal company on the day of completion. As an aside, can you suggest a removal company in Chelsea. Conveyancing firm was organised prior to coming across your site.

On the afternoon of completion you can collect the keys from your property agent but this can only take place once the vendors solicitors advise the agent that they acknowledge receipt of the completion payment and the keys can be passed over. You can tell the removal men that they can start moving you in. As a matter of policy we do not recommend a particular removal organisation but can assist you in choosing a residential property solicitor in Chelsea or a lawyer with expertise in conveyancing in Chelsea.

When it comes to mortgage companies such as Principality, do Chelsea property lawyers incur a yearly amount to be on the list of approved solicitors?

We are unaware of any lender fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.

We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Bank of Ireland as we intend to conduct alterations to our property in Chelsea. Do we need to appoint a local Chelsea solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

Bank of Ireland do not ordinarily appoint firms on their conveyancing panel to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Bank of Ireland panel.

My wife and I purchased a terraced Georgian house in Chelsea. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and The Royal Bank of Scotland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking The Royal Bank of Scotland to clarify?

You need to 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 Chelsea and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who carried out the work.

I opted to have a survey done on a property in Chelsea ahead of instructing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor has said that some banks will not grant a mortgage on a flying freehold property.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can check via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Chelsea. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Chelsea especially if they are familiar with such properties in Chelsea.

I’m about to sell my basement apartment in Chelsea. Conveyancing has not commenced, but I have just had a quarterly service charge invoice – what should I do?

It best that you clear the maintenance contribution as normal as all rents and maintenance payments will be allotted on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a ground floor flat in Chelsea. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium payable for a lease extension?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Chelsea conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Chelsea residence is 150A Albert Palace Mansions Lurline Gardens in July 2013. The Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the new lease of the subject property was £42,069 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 57.06 years.

Last updated

Commercial Conveyancing solicitors in Chelsea regulated by the SRA

The firms listed below are a small selection of solicitors in Chelsea with expertise in commercial conveyancing in Chelsea. This should include advice on buying or selling a shop, pub, restaurant, office, retail unit
  • Brice Droogleever & Co, 3 Queripel House, 1 Duke of York Square, London, SW3 4LY
  • Pemberton Greenish Llp, 45 Cadogan Gardens, London, SW3 2AQ
  • Terence St J Millett, 34 Sumner Place, South Kensington, London, SW7 3NT
  • Ashley Wilson Solicitors Llp, 26 Ives Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 2ND
  • Svedberg Law, 125 Sloane Street, London, SW1X 9AU

Residential Licensed Conveyancers in Chelsea regulated by the CLC

Please be aware that the listed conveyancers do not limit their work for conveyancing in Chelsea but also conveyancing across England and Wales.
  • Stratega Law Ltd, Sutherland House, W1F 7TE
  • R & C Property Lawyers Llp, 10A Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7PG
  • Stratega Law Ltd, Bldg 3 Chiswick Park, W4 5YA
  • Ldn Conveyancing Ltd, 3 Acton Hill Mews, W3 9QN
  • Walter Saunders, 382 Brockley Road, SE4 2BY

Planning law solicitors in Chelsea regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

The list below is a small selection of solicitors in Chelsea with expertise in planning law. The solicitors can give expert legal advice on all aspects of planning, including applications about listed buildings and conservation areas
  • Techlawyer Limited, 22 Groveside Court, Lombard Road, London, SW11 3RQ
  • Mark Taylor & Company, 310 Harbour Yard, Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XD
  • Parfitt Cresswell, 593-599 Fulham Road, London, London, SW6 5UA
  • Keystone Law Limited, Second Floor Audley House, 13 Palace Street, London, SW1E 5HX
  • Ricardina Bridges Ltd, 47 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1RH

Neighboring Locations

South Kensington
Chelsea
Sands End
Battersea

*Source acknowledgement: House price data produced by Land Registry as well data supplied by Lexsure Ltd.

© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of Land Registry under delegated authority from the Controller of HMSO.