My colleague suggested that where I am purchasing in Nottinghamshire I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

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

I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Nottinghamshire prior to instructing conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. Our surveyor advised that some banks will not grant a loan on such a home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can check with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Nottinghamshire. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

I have been advised by a number of estate agents in Nottinghamshire to select a conveyancer using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers over and above a competitor’s?

We refuse to offer any financial incentive for directing people our way. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Nottinghamshire where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Nottinghamshire conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

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 buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

I bought a leasehold flat in Nottinghamshire, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable properties in Nottinghamshire with over 90 years remaining are worth £192,000. The ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2079

With just 54 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £32,300 and £37,400 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden apartment in Nottinghamshire.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated however I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear the maintenance contribution as usual because all rents and service invoices will be apportionedas part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process