It is is a decade since I purchased my home in Cranbrook. Conveyancing lawyers have now been instructed on the sale but I can't locate the title deeds. Will this cause complications?

You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be with your mortgage company or they may be archived with the solicitor who oversaw the purchase. Secondly in most cases the property will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers procuring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Cranbrook relates to registered property but in the rare situation where your home is not registered it is more tricky but is resolvable.

I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of hinderance in Cranbrook house deals. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Cranbrook.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Cranbrook?

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

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Cranbrook conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Cranbrook conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non Cranbrook conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions could be helpful:

What are the charges for lease extension conveyancing?

Cranbrook Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Most Cranbrook leasehold properties will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced by the management company. If you acquire the property you will have to pay this contribution, usually quarterly throughout the year. This can be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, normally this is not a large sum, say around £25-£75 but you should to check it because occasionally it could be surprisingly expensive. The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the lessees have being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is often retained where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.

A licensed conveyancer acted on my conveyancing in Cranbrook 8 years ago having archived my deeds but has now closed – What steps do I now take to retreive these?

Deeds, as such, are no longer appropriate for the majority of properties in Cranbrook are registered electronically at Land Registry. Where you need to show evidence of proprietorship or are selling or re-mortgaging your conveyancing practitioner will need to obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.

If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned as quickly as possible.