Finally the sale completed on my house in Great Barford last March yet the purchaser is calling daily to moan that their conveyancer needs to hear from myconveyancer. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?

Post completion of your sale your conveyancer should send the transfer deeds and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. Where appropriate, your lawyer should also send confirmation that the mortgage has been discharged to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion tasks unique to conveyancing in Great Barford.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as a first time buyer of a garden flat in Great Barford. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on the completion date from my lawyer? If so, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Great Barford?

On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Great Barford. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the completion advance to the owner’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you will be able to receive the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs early afternoon.

We were going to get a DIP from Nationwide this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Nationwide recommend any Great Barford solicitors on the Nationwide conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?

You will need to appoint Great Barford solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Nationwide through the process.

After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Great Barford. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an upfront payment of £200. Not long after, the lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the HSBC panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

We are planning on selling our house in Great Barford and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. Any high street Great Barford conveyancer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers are using an online conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Great Barford. Having lived in Great Barford for many years we know that this is a non issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to get clarification that there is no issue.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same ailment)

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Great Barford?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Great Barford. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Great Barford where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Great Barford conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

Great Barford Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Most Great Barford leasehold apartments will have a service charge for the upkeep of the block levied by the landlord. Where you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this liability, normally quarterly during the year. This may differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say around £50-£100 but you need to check it because on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. Its a good idea to discover as much as possible regarding the company managing the building as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you will be at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to practical issues such as the cleanliness of the common parts. Ask prospective neighbours what they think of their service. On a final note, be sure you discover the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and precisely what it includes. What restrictions are there in the Great Barford Lease?