What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Teddington? Why is this being asked of me?

Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering laws require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the potential client they are dealing with prior to agreeing to accepting their conveyancing instruction. The Terms of Engagement that you need to sign will no doubt reaffirm this. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the CML Lenders Handbook requirements last updated on 1st December 2014. If you are unwilling to provide identification documents, your solicitor would not be able to act for you.

I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance when buying a house in Teddington. My lender is Virgin

Virgin have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 3/9/2025, the requirements read as follows :

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as a 1st time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in Teddington. Do I pick up the keys to the house on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Teddington?

On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Teddington. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to pick up the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.

My wife and I are spending time looking at flats in Teddington and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I intend to finance via a home loan with HSBC.

You should start obtaining conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with HSBC, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the HSBC conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Teddington. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £225. A few days later, the property lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Coventry BS 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 Coventry BS 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.

My friend advised me that if I am buying in Teddington I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Teddington conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Teddington around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Teddington Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Teddington.

Frank (my husband) and I may need to sub-let our Teddington ground floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Teddington conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

A lease governs relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Teddington do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the sublease.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a Teddington conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Teddington property is Flat D 15 Claremont Gardens in September 2013. TheTribunal determined in accordance with section48 and Schedule13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty seven pounds (£14,187.00) This case affected 1 flat.