I am buying a property without a mortgage in Mayfair. I have been residing for the last Seventeen years in Mayfair. Conveyancing searches are expensive. As I know the area and road very well must I have all the conveyancing searches?
Provided that you do not need a home loan, then all but one or two of the Mayfair conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your lawyer will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches completed, but she is duty bound to do this. One thing to take into account; if you are intend to sell the house one day, it could be of interest to your prospective purchaser what the searches determine. There are plenty of instances where properties with functional issues can still reveal negative search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Mayfair will provide you some constructive guidance concerning this.
Will my conveyancing lawyers need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in Mayfair. My lender is Chelsea Building Society
Chelsea Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 9/2/2025, the requirements read as follows :
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am new to the house moving as a first time purchaser of a ground floor flat in Mayfair. Do I pick up the keys to the house on completion from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will appoint a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Mayfair?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will electronically transfer the purchase money to the vendor’s solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be able to receive the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.
I can not fathom if my bank requires a lease extension. I have called my Mayfair bank branch on numerous occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My Mayfair conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called to say that they refuse to lend in accordance with their specific requirements. I simply don't know who is right.
Your property lawyer must comply with the CML Handbook section two specifications for your lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Mayfair. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £175. Shortly after, the property lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nationwide 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 Nationwide 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.
I'm buying a new build house in Mayfair benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to budge the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my lawyer about the side-deal as it would jeopardize my mortgage with Virgin Money. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Mayfair in advance of appointing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies will refuse to give a mortgage on this type of house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can check via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Mayfair. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Mayfair to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
One month into buying a property in Mayfair. Conveyancing solicitor has told us the property is "Leasehold". Will this likely make a difference on our Santander valuation?
Mayfair conveyancing does not in most situations involve leasehold houses. The crucial consideration here is the unexpired lease term and the ground rent. If there are over a hundred years remaining with a nominal rent, it's almost the same as freehold, so it’s unlikely to impact the saleability significantly.
At the other end of the spectrum, if it's, say, fifty five years it will have a adverse effect on the value, and probably wouldn't be mortgageable. The remaining lease term and ground rent will be stated in the lease to be supplied to your conveyancing practitioner.