Unfortunately I am unable to travel far from St John's Wood. What is the rationale as to why all St John's Wood lawyers aren't included on all lender panels?
A decade ago most lenders displayed an attitude to risk which is different than today. The financial regulator in 2010 instigated a thematic review into property fraud which in summary warned lenders: know the conveyancing practitioners on your panel. Consequently, banks have subsequently looked to extract more information from law firms concerning their operations and the individuals who work for them and set certain criteria such as completing a minimum number of transactions. Thousands of firms have found themselves excluded from lender panels even though they had an exemplary disciplinary record, no complaints and zero claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Many firms were never going to satisfy the criteria of amount of transactions the mortgage companies set.
Me and my partner are purchasing a apartment in St John's Wood. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we have to put our life savings into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Is it correct that all St John's Wood CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Skipton conveyancing list of approved solicitors?
Some major lenders now utilise the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.
We previously appointed conveyancers locally in St John's Wood on the Nottingham solicitor approved list. They have just billed me an additional amount for the legal aspects of the Nottingham mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Nottingham?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner is entitled to levy a fee for this. This fee is not dictated by Nottingham but by your St John's Wood solicitor. Numerous firms on the Nottingham panel will levy ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but some firms include it on their overall fee.
I used Action Conveyancing a few years ago for my conveyancing in St John's Wood. I now require my file however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in St John's Wood of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in St John's Wood. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.
Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in St John's Wood
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Please supply a car parking plan. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier?
Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a St John's Wood conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a St John's Wood conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggest that you speak with several firms including non St John's Wood conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions might be of use:
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If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?
Having spent years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St John's Wood. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the price.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a St John's Wood premises is Garden Flat 195 Goldhurst Terrace in May 2012. The Tribunal held in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be £60,855.00. This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 60.16 years.
I purchased a house in St John's Wood last 11/7/2025 and to date it is still not registered with HMLR. It was part of a new estate and my conveyancer told me that it may take 12 months to register. I have contacted the Land Registry directly and they have informed me the original application was cancelled due to questions not being addressed in time. Should I be concerned?
Contact your solicitor - Where you are unsatisfied with the responses, look up their internal complaints procedure and escalate your concerns to a Complaints Manager. Registrations for St John's Wood conveyancing are not known to be especially complex.