We were just about to sign contracts for a freehold house in Langstone. We encountered a snag. The loan offer with HSBC Bank runs out on 4/7/2024 but the owners are insisting on a completion date of 8/7/2024. Can one extend the loan offer?

The best person to deal with your concern is your solicitors who should assess if he or she is corresponding with the bank, seller’s lawyers, estate agents or conceivably all three based on the history of your conveyancing to date.

We are looking to buy a property and require a conveyancing solicitor in Langstone who is on the Aldermore solicitor panel. Can you recommend a local firm?

Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Aldermore . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Langstone.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our house can not be found. The conveyancers who handled the conveyancing in Langstone 10 years ago are no longer around. What are my next steps?

As long as you have a registered title the information relating to your ownership will be held by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is easy to execute a search at the Land Registry, identify your property and obtain current copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally retain a certified copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be ordered for a small fee.

Am I right to be wary that brokers that I am dealing with are recommending an online conveyancing firm rather than a local Langstone conveyancing firm?

As with lots of professional services, often input from relatives can be worth their weight in gold. Yet there are many players in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks may recommend conveyancers to use. Sometimes the solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but occasionally there is an underlying commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You have the discretion to select your own conveyancer. However, bear in mind that many mortgage providers specify a panel list of solicitors you are obliged to use for the mortgage aspect of your home move.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Langstone where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Langstone conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Langstone Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Is anyone aware of any major works in the planning that will increase the maintenance fees? The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the lessees enjoy control and although a managing agent is frequently employed if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. The answer will be important as a) areas may cause problems for the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the managing agents you will wish to have all the details