I have Fifty Six years left on my lease and need a lease extension for my apartment in Eastcote. Conveyancing solicitors on the Virgin panel can deal with such extensions correct?
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are getting a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Virgin have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 4/3/2026 the requirements read as follows :
Is it the case that all Eastcote solicitor practices on the Barclays conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Barclays approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the SRA. The majority of lenders do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be governed by the CLC.
We had instructed conveyancing lawyers located in Eastcote on the Coventry BS solicitor panel. They are now charging me an additional amount for the legal aspects of the Coventry BS mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Coventry BS?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your conveyancer can levy a fee for this. The fee is not set by Coventry BS but by your Eastcote conveyancing practitioner. Numerous firms on the Coventry BS panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
After what feels like an age I have had an offer on a flat in Eastcote agreed to, the owners do nevertheless have an associated purchase. The sellers have offered on a flat, but it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other flats in the pipeline. I have instructed a local conveyancing solicitor in Eastcote. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with Santander started?
It is normal to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then valuation, Eastcote conveyancing search costs, etc). First, you should check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Santander approved list. Regarding the next steps this very much dictated by the specifics of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market the majority of buyers would apply for the mortgage with Santander and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their property lawyer to move forward with the conveyancing in Eastcote.
five months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in Eastcote concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor for leasehold conveyancing in Eastcote. I have stumble upon a site which looks to be the perfect answer If it is possible to get all this stuff done via phone that would be ideal. Do I need to be concerned? What should out be looking out for?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
Last October I purchased a leasehold flat in Eastcote. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
Following months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Eastcote. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
if there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Eastcote premises is Flat 72 Queens Walk in January 2013. The Tribunals calculated the premium payable to be £22,090. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 53.26 years.
Me and my wife have just had an offer accepted on a house and had an appointment on Wednesday with HSBC for the mortgage. They advised me that when it comes to choosing a conveyancing practitioner that if they are not on their approved list of conveyancers then we will have to pay out a further fee of £200. This is because they would then have to instruct a property lawyer to act for them in addition to the one we appoint for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their invoice. I have asked HSBC to supply me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved solicitors but was told that I need to check with each individual solicitor to see if they are on the panel. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of HSBC what their criteria for panel membership is for a conveyancer.Thereafter ask the property lawyer of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on loans for HSBC historically. Where the answer to those is yes, then just double check with HSBC. Alternatively please make use of our search facility and we may be able to identify a conveyancer in Eastcote on the panel for HSBC.