We are about to exchange contracts for a freehold house in Belper. We encountered a problem. Our mortgage offer with Godiva Mortgages Ltd runs out on 17/2/2025 but the vendors are insisting on a completion date of 19/2/2025. Is it possible to prolong the mortgage offer?

The best person to address this question is your lawyer who is in a position to determine whether he or she is better off negotiating with the bank, vendor’s solicitors, estate agents or indeed all three based on the history of your house move to date.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Belper last August but my buyer keeps SMS messaging every few hours to moan that their solicitor is waiting to hear from mine. What should my lawyer have done following completion?

Following your sale your lawyer should send the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor must also confirm that the mortgage has been repaid to the purchasers conveyancers. There are no post completion tasks specific conveyancing in Belper.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Belper I like with a park and station in the vicinity, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Belper in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage that many years may be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities 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 concerning this.

Is it best to use a Belper conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am buying? I have an old university friend who can conduct the legal work but her office is a couple of hundredmiles drive away.

The benefit of a high street Belper conveyancing firm is that you can pop in to execute documents, hand in your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a plus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have used your friend and in the main were content that should outweigh using an unfamiliar Belper conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.

I only have Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Belper. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Belper.

Belper Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before Purchasing

This information is useful as a) areas can result in problems in the building as the common areas may start to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to have complete disclosure Who takes charge for maintaining and repairing the building? Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, albeit that a few managing agents in Belper ask tenants to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance.