Do I need to pay for insurance to protect me from financial exposure to chancel repairs when purchasing a property in Martock?

Unless a prior purchase of the premises completed post 12 October 2013 you may assume that lawyers delivering conveyancing in Martock to remain recommending a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.

Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Martock. Conveyancing is necessary evil 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 conveyancing.

Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Martock

The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. 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.

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Martock I like with a park and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Martock suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be problematic. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Martock with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Martock can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers’ conveyancers.
Some Martock leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual 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 purchasers or their solicitors. If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Martock home move. If a reissued share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible. If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

I purchased a garden flat in Martock, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Martock with a long lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2085

With only 60 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £20,000 and £23,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

My partner and I yesterday found out that one of the directors of the conveyancing practice handling the purchase conveyancing in Martock is an aunty of the seller. Is this acceptable?

On the basis that no conflict arises this is permitted. Where you are requiring mortgage finance then the lender may have a say as many banks have specific instructions concerning this. For example for Nationwide Building Society as of 24/2/2025, the requirements read as follows :