I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in Chalfont St Giles. My lender is Nationwide Building Society

Nationwide Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 19/7/2025, the requirements read as follows :

We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Bank of Ireland as we want to carry out improvements to our home in Chalfont St Giles. Do we need to select a bricks and mortar Chalfont St Giles solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

Bank of Ireland don't usually require a member of their conveyancing panel to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Bank of Ireland list.

My offer was accepted on a house in Chalfont St Giles on 3/6/2025, valuation was booked 3 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Kent Reliance and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Kent Reliance to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Having read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Chalfont St Giles solicitor - who is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?

Lloyds will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Lloyds 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. You may wish to consider appointing your own Chalfont St Giles surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

My wife and I own a semi-detached Victorian house in Chalfont St Giles. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Bank of Ireland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??

You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Chalfont St Giles and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Chalfont St Giles with the aid of help to buy. The builders refused to reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not disclose to my lawyer about the side-deal as it will impact my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.

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.

Are there any apps to help identify a Chalfont St Giles solicitor on the Lloyds TSB Bank conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel upto 10kilometers to meet the solicitor.

Feel free to make use of the search on this page. Please select a lender and your location and you will see a number of Chalfont St Giles conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Chalfont St Giles conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can telephone them to see whether they are on the Lloyds TSB Bank panel