I am purchasing a house for cash in Tooting. I have resided for the last dozen years in Tooting. Conveyancing searches are a lot of money. As I know the area and road very well should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?

If you not getting a mortgage, then all but one or two of the Tooting conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your solicitor will ’encourage you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but she is duty bound to do this. Do bear in mind; if you are likely to dispose of the house one day, it may be of interest to your prospective purchaser what the searches reveal. Sometimes premises with apparent issues can still reveal unpredicted search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Tooting will provide you some sensible advice in this regard.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Tooting?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Tooting. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Tooting I like with a park and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 years on the lease. There is not much else in Tooting in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage that many years may be problematic. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.

Am I better off to use a Tooting conveyancing lawyer in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can carry out the legal work but her office is 200miles away.

The benefit of a local Tooting conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign documents, present your ID and apply pressure on them if necessary. They will also have local intelligence which is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust instructed your friend and they were content that should trump using an unfamiliar Tooting conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being Tooting based.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Tooting conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Tooting conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Tooting conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions could be useful:

If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not? What volume of lease extensions has the firm conducted in Tooting in the last twenty four months?

Having spent months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Tooting. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Tooting flat is 14 Nutwell Street in January 2014. The premium payable for the acquisition of a new lease of the subject premises was in the sum of £30,523 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 62.94 years.