About to place an offer on a leasehold apartment in Adderbury. The estate agents tell me that it is standard for flats in Adderbury to have less than 75 years unexpired on the lease. I am expecting a mortgage with Virgin. Will the property be mortgageable given that the lease has 72 years left.

Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are securing a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Virgin have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 15/11/2024 the requirements read as follows :

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Adderbury?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Adderbury. 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…’

I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Adderbury I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Adderbury for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could 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 current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.

In my capacity as executor for the estate of my father I am disposing of a residence in Monmouth but reside in Adderbury. My conveyancer (approximately 300 miles from merequires that I execute a statutory declaration before completion. Can you recommend a conveyancing practitioner in Adderbury who can attest and place their company stamp on the document?

Technically speaking you are not likely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will do regardless of whether they are Adderbury based

To what extent are Adderbury conveyancing solicitors under an obligation to the Law Society to issue transparent conveyancing costs?

Inbuilt into the Solicitors Code of Conduct are set rules and regulations as to how the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) allow solicitors to publicise their fees to clients.The Law Society have practice note giving advice on how to publicise transparent charges to avoid breaching any such rule. Practice notes are not legal advice issued by the Law Society and is not intended as the only standard of good practice a conveyancing solicitor should adhere to. The Practice Note does, nevertheless, represent the Law Society’s view of acceptable practice for publicising conveyancing charges, and accordingly it’s a recommended read for any solicitor or conveyancer in Adderbury or beyond.