I am purchasing a house and need a conveyancing solicitor in Covent Garden who is on the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing. Can you recommend a local solicitor?

Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Chelsea Building Society in certain locations such as Covent Garden. We dont recommend any particular firm.

I used Action Conveyancing a few years ago for my conveyancing in Covent Garden. Now, I need my files but the law firm has closed. What do I do?

Do contact 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 Covent Garden of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, 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 ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Covent Garden I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Covent Garden in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage that many years will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.

Taking into account that I will soon part with £400,000 on a house in Covent Garden I would like to talk to a solicitor concerning thetransaction prior to appointing the firm. Can this be arranged?

This is something that we encourage - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you speaking to the solicitor who will be conducting your conveyancing in Covent Garden.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important person, not a case reference. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are provided with for your conveyancing in Covent Garden should be the amount on the final invoice that you are charged.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Covent Garden where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Covent Garden conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 purchaser.

I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in Covent Garden. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the price payable.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Covent Garden residence is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case affected 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 73.26 years.