I have 70 years unexpired on my lease and require a lease extension for my apartment in Aldridge. Conveyancing solicitors on the Virgin panel can deal with such extensions right?

Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are obtaining a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Virgin have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 19/7/2024 the requirements read as follows :

I just acquired a house at auction in Aldridge. Conveyancing is required. What are my next steps?

Having legally committed yourself to purchase you will need to find a conveyancing lawyer soon as you will have a fast approaching deadline in which to complete the property. Every auction property will ordinarily have an associated legal pack. This will likely include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. Where you are dealing with leasehold premises the conveyancing pack should include a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing paperwork pertinent to leasehold premises. You must pass this on to your appointed conveyancing solicitor ASAP. Do make sure that you have funds in place to complete on the date specified in the contract.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Coventry BS. I assume I don't need a Aldridge conveyancer on the Coventry BS panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Coventry BS 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 Coventry BS mortgage from the register. Coventry BS, 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 Coventry BS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Coventry BS has instructed the Land Registry to do so

After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Aldridge. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Not long after, the conveyancer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Santander conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Santander panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

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

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Aldridge. 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'm purchasing my first flat in Aldridge with a mortgage from Nationwide Building Society. The developers refused to budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The estate agent suggested that I not reveal to my lawyer about the deal as it will put at risk my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years remaining on my lease in Aldridge. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Aldridge.

I purchased a basement flat in Aldridge, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable properties in Aldridge with a long lease are worth £186,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2076

With 52 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £29,500 and £34,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.