Our lawyer has identified a a problem with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Knottingley. The other side have offered defective title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will cover the costs. Our conveyancing practitioner has advised that he must ensure that the bank is willing to move forward with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?

Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the bank does not mean to say that the property will meet their requirements for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. You and the mortgage company are the client. The appropriate lender specifications must be adhered to.

When will exchange of contracts take place for domestic conveyancing in Knottingley and am I required to attend the lawyers branch?

Where you are local to our conveyancing solicitors in Knottingley you are invited in to sign contracts. However, the lender approved solicitors we work with supply countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as detailed and professional a job for you when dealing with you electronically. The signing of the property agreement is not the important part. Signing on the dotted line is necessary for the solicitor to exchange contracts at the suitable time, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a long "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Knottingley)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.

My wife and I purchased a semi-detached Edwardian house in Knottingley. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Aldermore. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Knottingley and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the work.

My husband and I are novice buyers - had an offer accepted, but the property agent told us that the vendor will only proceed if we instruct the agent's chosen solicitors as they want a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a local solicitor accustomed to conveyancing in Knottingley

It is unlikely the sellers are driving this. If they desire ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a serious purchaser is not the way to achieve this. Bypass the agents and go straight to the owners and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are ready to progress, with finances arranged © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you intend to use your preferred Knottingley conveyancing lawyers - not the ones that will provide their estate agent a kickback or meet his conveyancing targets pre-set by corporate headquarters.

I am attracted to a two flats in Knottingley which have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Knottingley is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. For most buyers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Knottingley conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I own a garden flat in Knottingley, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2004. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar flats in Knottingley with a long lease are worth £222,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease expires on 21st October 2096

With 71 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.