My wife and I are purchasing a new build flat in Irchester and my lawyer is informing me that she has to the bank to reveal incentives from the seller. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to exchange and my preference is not to delay matters. is my lawyer playing by the book?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

A friend suggested that where I am purchasing in Irchester I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

This is a search is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Irchester conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about Irchester around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Irchester Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Irchester Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Irchester.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Irchester. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Irchester

Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme.

Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Irchester prior to appointing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor has said that some banks will not issue a loan on such a house.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can check via the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Irchester. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Irchester to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Irchester with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Irchester can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers’ lawyers.
A minority of Irchester leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors. If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Irchester home move. If a new share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity. If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

I acquired a leasehold flat in Irchester, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Irchester with an extended lease are worth £179,000. The ground rent is £65 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2081

You have 57 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £26,600 and £30,800 as well as costs.

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 a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.