Recently been in touch with my conveyancing lawyer in Keelby who completed the legal work two years ago and wanted a conveyancing costs illustration based on the same type of house sale & purchase (a leasehold residence and a freehold property) of almost identical values with a home loan from Santander. I am now being charged twice the amount. Stick with what I know or should I try and find an alternative property lawyer?

The estimate fees appear a bit high. If you you were to look around you may be able to shave off some of the cost by as much as £100 plus VAT. That being said, providing that you were satisfied with the service the firm provided you couldcome to rue opting for an a cheaper conveyancer. Don't forget to check that the firm can represent Santander. Do use our search tool to locate a Keelby conveyancing firm on the Santander conveyancing panel, which can often include conveyancing solicitors in Keelby.

I am purchasing a property mortgage free in Keelby. I have resided for the last 20 years in Keelby. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. As I know the road and vicinity very well should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a mortgage, then the vast majority of the Keelby conveyancing searches are optional. Your conveyancer will try and sway you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but she is duty bound to take that path of advice. Do bear in mind; if you are intend to sell the house in the future, it will likely be be of importance to your future buyer what the searches reveal. There are plenty of instances where properties with day to day issues can still show up unpredicted search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Keelby should provide you some sensible advice here.

I used Action Conveyancing a few years past for my conveyancing in Keelby. I now require my file but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?

Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing 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 Keelby 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.

I have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Keelby I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Keelby for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Keelby where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Keelby conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with 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 inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Keelby, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Keelby with a long lease are worth £206,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2091

You have 66 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £12,400 and £14,200 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures 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. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.