A mile or two south of Bromley town centre the houses stop and the fields begin, and property law changes with them. Inside the suburb, conveyancing is the familiar freehold kind: semis in Petts Wood and West Wickham, Edwardian villas in Bickley and Chislehurst, Victorian terraces in Penge and Anerley, nearly all sold in chains that run on into Kent and Sussex, with surveys, searches and enquiries about extensions and loft conversions. Beyond it, in Keston, Downe, Cudham and Biggin Hill, property solicitors in Bromley deal with the green belt: planning restrictions on extending or rebuilding, agricultural ties on cottages, rights of way across fields, septic tanks, private roads and land sold with hope value.
Gardens cause trouble throughout. Bromley's plots are long, its trees old and its hedges high, and boundary disputes, overhanging branches, high hedge complaints and arguments over fences and access are a steady part of local practice, usually resolved by a solicitor's letter and a surveyor's plan rather than a court. Leasehold is less common than in inner London but present: new apartment blocks around Bromley South and in Orpington, retirement developments with service charges and exit fees in Beckenham and Chislehurst, and conversions in Penge. Equity release, gifts of property to children and the sale of a parent's house to fund care are weekly work.
Renting is a smaller market, with deposit and possession disputes to match, and commercial property runs from shop leases in The Glades and on Orpington High Street to industrial units in the Cray Valley and hangars and offices at Biggin Hill.
Expect a fixed conveyancing fee, with the searches, the Land Registry fee and stamp duty listed as separate items on the quote.
The property firms below serve Bromley, verified ones at the top. The guides to neighbour disputes, what conveyancing involves and the legal fees for buying a house are worth reading, with the general property solicitors page for more; property solicitors in Bexley cover the border with Sidcup.
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