My grandmother passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Chilwell. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £8000. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to RBS, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

Given you plan to refinance then RBS will require that you use a conveyancer on the RBS conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your RBS conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the RBS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

My friend advised me that if I am buying in Chilwell I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Chilwell conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Chilwell around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Chilwell Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Chilwell Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Chilwell.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Chilwell?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Chilwell. 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…’

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £305k and found one round the corner in Chilwell I like with a park and transport links nearby, however it's only got 61 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Chilwell suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you need a home loan that many years will likely be problematic. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass 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 solicitor about this.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Chilwell what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Chilwell. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party. A duty to insure the building

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, Coventry Building Society, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

I purchased a studio flat in Chilwell, conveyancing having been completed in 2008. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Chilwell with a long lease are worth £202,000. The ground rent is £60 per annum. The lease runs out on 21st October 2082

With only 56 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £29,500 and £34,000 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.