I purchased a terraced Georgian property in Clevedon. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Barclays Direct. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Clevedon and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Clevedon with a loan from Accord Mortgages Ltd. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent suggested that I not reveal to my solicitor about the deal as it could adversely affect my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Clevedon I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, however it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Clevedon in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Clevedon. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Clevedon - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I acquired a basement flat in Clevedon, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2004. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Clevedon with a long lease are worth £185,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2086

With only 61 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £18,100 and £20,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

My brother-in-law has suggested I instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Clevedon. I I would like to check if they are on the lender's conveyancing panel. Can you advise?

You should phone your lawyer and ask them if they are on the lender's approved list. If that does not help get in touch with us and we can make some checks for you. Should the firm not be on the lender panel we we can help find a quality conveyancing solicitor in Clevedon on the panel for your mortgage company.