Will my conveyancing lawyers need to check that the building insurance when buying a house in Guildford. My lender is Bank of Ireland

Bank of Ireland have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 12/1/2026, the requirements read as follows :

My wife and I are purchasing a house in Guildford. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we have to send money 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.

I had an offer accepted on an apartment in Guildford on 4/12/2025, valuation was booked 4 days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Santander and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Santander conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

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 Santander to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Santander conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Guildford property lawyer having made sure that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Guildford postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Principality, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Guildford.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Guildford with a loan from Leeds Building Society. The sellers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The estate agent suggested that I not inform my conveyancer about the extras as it may adversely affect my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. Guildford is the location of the property. Is there any guidance you can give?

Flying freeholds in Guildford are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Guildford you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Guildford may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Guildford where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Guildford conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I purchased a 1st floor flat in Guildford, conveyancing having been completed June 1995. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Guildford with a long lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2095

With just 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.