Much of Mayfair and Belgravia has had the same landlord for the better part of three centuries. The great estates still grant the leases, approve the alterations and collect the ground rents, which makes conveyancing in Westminster a matter of reading the lease as carefully as the title. Lease extensions and collective enfranchisement are everyday work, and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which has already scrapped the two-year ownership rule for claiming an extension, is changing the arithmetic as more of it comes into force.
Overseas money adds a layer: a flat held through a foreign company must be on the Register of Overseas Entities before it can be sold or mortgaged, non-resident buyers pay a stamp duty surcharge, and lenders ask hard questions about the source of funds. Short lets are the other recurring argument: a London home may be let for ninety nights a year without planning permission, Westminster City Council enforces that limit, and many leases forbid short letting altogether.
Away from the prime streets the work changes. Westminster's estates in Pimlico, Church Street and Lisson Grove hold thousands of tenants and Right to Buy leaseholders, who need help with disrepair, service-charge and major-works bills, succession and the rehousing terms that come with regeneration; possession and disrepair claims go to the Central London County Court on the Strand.
Commercial property here is West End property: shop leases on Oxford Street and Regent Street, restaurant and bar premises in Soho and Covent Garden with their licensing conditions, and office lettings in Victoria and Paddington, with rent reviews, dilapidations and renewals under the 1954 Act.
Conveyancing is usually fixed-fee; enfranchisement, lettings disputes and commercial work are charged by the hour or per stage.
Property firms serving Westminster are listed below, verified firms first. Read about conveyancing, the legal fees for buying a house, landlord and tenant law and commercial property law, or see the general guide to property solicitors.
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