My husband and I are planning to buy a house in Gunnersbury and have appointed a Gunnersbury conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Leeds Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Gunnersbury lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Gunnersbury lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am acquiring a property for cash in Gunnersbury. I have resided for the last twelve years in Gunnersbury. Conveyancing searches are a lot of money. As I know the road and vicinity intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?
Provided that you do not need a home loan, then the vast majority of the Gunnersbury conveyancing searches are non-obligatory. Your lawyer will ’encourage you, no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches done, but she is duty bound to do this. One thing to consider; if you are intend to sell the house at a future date, it will be of importance to your future buyer what the searches determine. There are plenty of instances where houses with functional issues can still throw up adverse search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Gunnersbury will provide you some constructive guidance in this regard.
Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Gunnersbury is more expensive?
Gunnersbury leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving appropriate notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.
About to place an offer on a leasehold apartment in Gunnersbury. The property agents tell me that it is standard for flats in Gunnersbury to have less than 75 years unexpired on the lease. I am expecting a loan with Chelsea Building Society. Is this going to be acceptable if the lease has 72 years unexpired.
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. Chelsea Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 11/8/2025 the requirements read as follows :
I am purchasing my first flat in Gunnersbury with a loan from Yorkshire Building Society. The developers refused to move on the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not reveal to my lawyer about the side-deal as it will adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.
In what way can the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 impact my commercial premises in Gunnersbury and how can your lawyers assist?
The particular law that you refer to affords a safeguard to business leaseholders, granting the right to make a request to court for a renewal tenancy and continue in occupation when the lease reaches an end. There are limited grounds where a landlord can refuse a lease renewal and the rules are complicated. We are happy to direct you to commercial conveyancing firms who use the act for protection and assist with commercial conveyancing in Gunnersbury