My son is buying a new build apartment in Bredbury with a mortgage from Barclays. His solicitor has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?

The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Barclays conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Barclays conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

It is is a decade since I bought my property in Bredbury. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate the title deeds. Is this a problem?

You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be with your mortgage company or they may still be with the solicitor who acted in the purchase. Secondly in all probability the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Bredbury relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more tricky but is not insurmountable.

My husband and I are FTB’s - agreed a price, but the property agent told us that the vendor will only proceed if we instruct the agent's preferred conveyancers as they want an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a high street conveyancer with experience of conveyancing in Bredbury

It is improbable the owners are driving this. Should the vendor require ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated buyer is going to damage their objectives. Speak to the owners direct and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are ready to go, with finances in place © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you will continue to use your own,trusted Bredbury conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will provide their negotiator at the agency a introducer fee or meet his conveyancing targets set by senior management.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Bredbury where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Bredbury conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I own a ground floor flat in Bredbury, conveyancing formalities finalised May 1997. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable properties in Bredbury with a long lease are worth £211,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease ends on 21st October 2093

With 68 years unexpired the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

A conveyancing firm acted on my conveyancing in Bredbury half a dozen years ago having retained my deeds but has since been shut down – What steps do I now take to get hold of them?

Title deeds, as such, no longer exist as the majority of homes in Bredbury are archived digitally at Land Registry. Should you need to establish evidence of proprietorship or are selling or refinancing your solicitor will need to obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.

If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned with reasonable haste.