My wife and I are planning to purchase a 1 bedroom apartment in Welling with a mortgage. We like our Welling lawyer, but the bank says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel conveyancing practices or retain our Welling lawyer and pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. We feel that this is inequitable; are we not able to demand that the lender use our Welling lawyer ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Welling conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Welling?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Welling. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one near me in Welling I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Welling suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you may ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
Is it possible to swap firm as I have to instruct one who is on the Godiva Mortgages Ltd conveyancing list. I was using a local conveyancing solicitor in Welling five minutes from me but he is not accepted by Godiva Mortgages Ltd
It would be our pleasure to assist you select a conveyancing solicitor in Welling on the Godiva Mortgages Ltd panel. Please note that the conveyancers that we list do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are authorised and regulated by the SRA who regulate all conveyancing solicitors in Welling. Using search facility on this page, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Welling.
We recently become aware that one of the partners of the solicitors handling the purchase conveyancing in Welling is an aunty of the vendor. Is this permitted?
On the basis that no conflict arises this is permitted. Where you are obtaining mortgage finance then the bank may have a say as many lenders have specific instructions concerning this. For example for RBS - Direct Line as of 5/12/2025, the requirements read as follows :