We are a couple about to exchange contracts for a semi detached house in Kingston. We encountered a snag. The mortgage offer with Bank of Ireland expires on 7/4/2026 but the sellers are putting forward a completion date of 9/4/2026. Can one prolong the mortgage expiry date?
The person best placed to address this question is your conveyancer who will calculate if they corresponding with the lender, vendor’s solicitors, selling agents or possibly all three taking into account the circumstances your conveyancing to date.
I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in Kingston. My lender is Virgin
Virgin have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 3/2/2026, the requirements read as follows :
I'm the single beneficiary of my late grandmother’s estate and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in Kingston. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in January. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership could be treated the same way as if I'd bought the property in January. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you may be caught by that. How sensible a view lenders take of it, depend on the lender as this requirement is primarily there to identify subsales or the quick reselling of property.
Can I be sure that the Kingston conveyancing solicitor on the Nationwide panel is any good?
When it comes to conveyancing in Kingston seeking recommendations is a sensible start. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one advertising the lowest fees. We would always suggest that you speak with the lawyer handling your conveyancing.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Kingston. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £200. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the TSB 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 TSB 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 recommended that where I am buying in Kingston I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is sometimes included in the estimate for your Kingston conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Kingston around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Kingston Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Kingston Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Kingston.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Kingston?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Kingston. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Kingston. Conveyancing lawyers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?
The majority of houses in Kingston are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Kingston in which case you should be shopping around for a Kingston conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a lessee you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example requiring the freeholder’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your solicitor will report to you on the legal implications.
I am the registered owner of a 1 bedroom flat in Kingston, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Kingston with an extended lease are worth £196,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2090
With just 64 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £15,200 and £17,600 as well as legals.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.