My flat in Castleton is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Will my property lawyer have to be on the Barclays conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Barclays conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently currently.

I used Wolstenholmes several years ago for my conveyancing in Castleton. I now require my papers however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?

You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Castleton of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Castleton I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Castleton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?

If you need a home loan that many years will be a potential deal breaker. 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 premises for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Castleton from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Castleton can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers’ representatives.
If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a lengthy formality and slows down many a Castleton home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible. You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale. If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Castleton state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such works. If you fail to have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer before hand.

I own a 2 bed flat in Castleton, conveyancing having been completed 3 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Castleton with an extended lease are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2095

With 71 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

To what extent are Castleton conveyancing solicitors under an obligation to the Law Society to supply clear conveyancing costs?

Contained within the Solicitors Code of Conduct are specific rules and regulations as to how the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) allow solicitors to publicise their charges to clients.The Law Society have a 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, however, represent the Law Society’s perspective of acceptable practice for publicising conveyancing charges, and accordingly it’s a recommended read for any solicitor or conveyancer in Castleton or across England and Wales.