Me and my wife are purchasing our first home. Our solicitor has calledto ask if we would like to take out additional conveyancing searches. Frankly we have no idea as to what's appropriate for conveyancing in Mayfair

The range of Mayfair conveyancing searches depends primarily on the premises, the location, the probability of any of these risks, your knowledge of the region and risks, your general appetite to risk. What matters is that you adequately comprehend what information each search could supply. Then you can make a decision if you consider that you need that information. Where you are in doubt, ask your property lawyer to recommend.

I have just over seventy years unexpired on my lease and need a lease extension for my apartment in Mayfair. Conveyancing solicitors on the Accord Mortgages panel can deal with such extensions correct?

Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are securing a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Accord Mortgages have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 17/11/2024 the requirements read as follows :

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am new to the home moving as FTB of a garden flat in Mayfair. Do I collect the keys to the house on completion from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in Mayfair?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to collect the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.

Can you help - my lawyer says that lack of right of way insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Mayfair conveyancing?

The right level of lack of right of way indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Barclays and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such insurances.

After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Mayfair. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an upfront payment of £225. A couple of days later, the property lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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.

What will a local search inform me regarding the house I am buying in Mayfair?

Mayfair conveyancing often commences with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company such as Searchflow The local search plays an important role in many a Mayfair conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search will reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen topic sections.

Just bought a semi-detached house in Mayfair , how long should it take for the Land Registry to deal with the formalities evidencing my ownership? My Mayfair conveyancing solicitor works at snail pace, so I want to check that my purchase is registered.

There is nothing unique about conveyancing in Mayfair registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timescales can adjust according to the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and if the Land registry communicate with any 3rd parties. At present in the region of three quarters of submission are fully dealt with in less than three weeks but some can be subject to longer delays. Registration takes place once the purchaser has moved in to the property so post completion formalities is not typically an essential issue but if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer could speak with the land registry and explain the circumstances.