I am acquiring a property without a mortgage in St Austell. I have lived for the last 20 years in St Austell. Conveyancing searches are a lot of money. As I have knowledge of the road and vicinity intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?

Provided that you do not need a mortgage, then almost all of the St Austell conveyancing searches are optional. Your lawyer will 'advise', no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but he has a professional duty to take that path of encouragement . Do consider; if you are intend to dispose of the house at a future date, it could be of interest to your prospective purchaser what the searches reveal. On occasion properties with day to day issues can still show up unexpected search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in St Austell will provide you some sensible guidance concerning this.

I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in St Austell. My lender is Accord Mortgages

Accord Mortgages have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 29/1/2026, the requirements read as follows :

I am helping my mother sell her flat in St Austell. Does the solicitor order the energy assessment or should I organise this?

Following the demise of Home Information Packs, energy assessments remained a compulsory part of selling a property. An energy performance certificate needs to be to hand prior to the property being put on the market. This is not as aspect of the sale process that solicitors normally arrange. If you are using a St Austell conveyancing practitioner they may be able to arrange EPC’s due to their relationships with reputable St Austell providers

I have paid off my mortgage with Nottingham. I assume I don't need a St Austell lawyer on the Nottingham panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Nottingham mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Nottingham mortgage from the register. Nottingham, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Nottingham has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Nottingham has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I am selling my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in May 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, RBS are being difficult. The St Austell solicitor who is on the RBS conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but RBS are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do RBS have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that RBS have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why RBS may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one near me in St Austell I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in St Austell for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage that many years may be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.

My aunt completed her conveyancing in St Austell in 2007. She has since got married, widowed and is now remarried. She intends to market the house next moths. I suspect that she will simply be requested to provide a copy of the marriage certificates to the conveyancer but she is worried it could frustrate the conveyancing. Should she instruct a conveyancer to update the land title information for the house?

You are not required to update the title for the property as long as you have the evidence required to demonstrate how the change of name occurred.

Any buyer’s property lawyer should check the land registry information and requisition evidence by way of proof of the change of name for example marriage certificates.