We are acquiring a brand new flat in Southampton and my conveyancer is advising me that she has to the bank to reveal incentives from the seller. I am under pressure to exchange and my preference is not to delay matters. Is my lawyer right?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a lender 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.

Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Southampton is more expensive?

Southampton leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving appropriate notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.

The deeds to our house can not be found. The lawyers who handled the conveyancing in Southampton 4 years ago no longer exist. What do I do?

As long as the title is registered the details of your proprietorship will be evidenced by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to conduct a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and order current copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually retain a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.

I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £305k and found one near me in Southampton I like with open areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Southampton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Southampton. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Southampton should include some of the following:

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the flat, or working from home Details of the parties to the lease, for instance these could be the (you), head lessor, freeholder Where does the liability rest to repair and maintain the block. It is essential that you know which party is duty bound to repair and maintenance of every part of the building You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions How long the lease is. You should receive guidance as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

I acquired a 1 bedroom flat in Southampton, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Southampton with an extended lease are worth £180,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease ceases on 21st October 2082

You have 58 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £22,800 and £26,400 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.