Will my conveyancing lawyers need to check that the building insurance when buying a house in Chiswick. My lender is Virgin

Virgin have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 8/10/2025, the requirements read as follows :

Do I choose a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in Chiswick?

There are two types of lawyers who can execute conveyancing in Chiswick namely licenced conveyancers or solicitors. The two can provide the legal services that required to complete the sale or purchase of property. They are both duty bound to handle Chiswick conveyancing on similar standards and guidelines so you may be safe in the knowledge that your conveyancing will be professionally carried out and that all requirements and procedures will be suitably adhered to.

Please help - my lawyer says that chancel insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Chiswick conveyancing?

The appropriate level of chancel indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Yorkshire Building Society and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.

I had an offer accepted on an apartment in Chiswick on 29/8/2025, valuation was booked 4 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Coventry BS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Are Coventry BS entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Coventry BS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I am buying a new build house in Chiswick benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The property agent told me not to tell my conveyancer about this deal as it will 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.

Due to the advice of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Chiswick prior to appointing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor advised that some banks will not give a loan on a flying freehold property.

It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can investigate further via the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Chiswick. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

Me and my husband have just had an offer accepted on a apartment and had an appointment on Wednesday with HSBC for the mortgage. They have informed me that when it comes to choosing a lawyer that unless they are on their approved list of conveyancers then we will have to pay out an extra fee of £250+. This is is due to the fact that they would then have to instruct a solicitor to act on their behalf in addition to the one we choose to act for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their invoice. I have asked HSBC to furnish me with a list so I can seek estimates only from their approved solicitors but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. What would be the best way of going about this?

You can enquire of HSBC what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Thereafter ask the conveyancer of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on mortgages for HSBC previously. If the answer to those is yes, then just double check with HSBC. Alternatively please utilise our search tool and we should be able to identify a solicitor in Chiswick on the panel for HSBC.