My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Tenterden. Conveyancing is needed. What happens now?

Given that you have now legally committed yourself to purchase you must retain a conveyancing lawyer quickly as you are facing a fast approaching a fixed date to complete the transaction. Every auction property will ordinarily have a bespoke auction set of papers. This will likely include evidence of title and search results. Where you are dealing with leasehold premises the legal pack may contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing documentation specific to a leasehold property. You need to hand this to the solicitor instructed by you at the earliest opportunity. You also need to ensure that your finances are organised to complete on the on the contractual date .

How can we tell if a Tenterden conveyancing solicitor on the Aldermore panel is any good?

When it comes to conveyancing in Tenterden getting recommendations is a sensible starting point. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one advertising the lowest fees. We would always advise that you speak with the lawyer handling your transaction.

I have paid off my mortgage with Nationwide. I assume I don't need a Tenterden lawyer on the Nationwide panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Nationwide mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Nationwide mortgage from the register. Nationwide, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Nationwide has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Nationwide has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I am buying my first flat in Tenterden benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The property agent told me not inform my lawyer about this deal as it would affect my loan with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I am looking into buying my first house which is in Tenterden and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Tenterden. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Tenterden area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Tenterden. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Tenterden where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Tenterden conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means 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 has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

I inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Tenterden, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Tenterden with over 90 years remaining are worth £191,000. The ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2077

With only 53 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £27,600 and £31,800 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

The lawyers carrying out our conveyancing in Tenterden has forwarded papers to review that show the land is unregistered with epitome documents. How can it be that the property not currently recorded at HMLR?

It is unusual for property in Tenterden not to be registered. An 'epitome' is basically a dossier of photocopies of documents affecting an unregistered title. Many Tenterden conveyancing solicitors should be able to handle such matters but where uncertainty exists the conventional recommendation presently is for the current owners to register the title first and thereafter deal with the dispose of the property to the purchaser - this will have a knock on effect to cause a prolonged conveyancing.