It is a dozen years since I acquired my home in Eccleston. Conveyancing solicitors have recently been retained on the sale but I can't find my title documents. Will this jeopardise the sale?

Don’t worry too much. First there is a chance that the deeds will be kept by the mortgage company or they may be in the possession of the solicitor who handled the purchase. Secondly the chances are that the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Eccleston relates to registered property but in the rare situation where your home is unregistered it is more of a problem but is resolvable.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our property can not be found. The solicitors who did the conveyancing in Eccleston 4 years ago no longer exist. What do I do?

Assuming the title is registered the details of your proprietorship will be recorded by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is possible to conduct a search at the Land Registry, find your house and obtain current copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases retain a certified copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for twenty pounds.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Eccleston I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Eccleston in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage that many years may be problematic. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

How easy is it to use the search facility to locate a conveyancing practitioner in Eccleston on the approved list for my lender?

First pick a bank such as Yorkshire Building Society, Barnsley Building Society or TSB then type in your location for instance Eccleston. Conveyancing firms in Eccleston and nationally will then be identified.

Completion is due on the disposal of our £275,000 maisonette in Eccleston next Wednesday. The management company has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Eccleston?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Eccleston conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

Completing conveyancing due diligence questions Where consent is required before sale in Eccleston Copies of the building insurance and schedule Deeds of covenant upon sale Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Eccleston leasehold property is £350. For Eccleston conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to provide the information.

I purchased a split level flat in Eccleston, conveyancing having been completed 10 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Equivalent properties in Eccleston with a long lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease expires on 21st October 2085

With just 60 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £20,000 and £23,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.