My friend's sister is a property lawyer. I hope that I will receive friends and family pricing for conveyancing, but if not, what kind of fees would I typically be looking at for conveyancing in Heckmondwike?

You should contrast pricing. Make use of our search tool on this page. Whilst charges will vary but the service one can expect differ between law firms as is the case with most professions.

My property lawyer in Heckmondwike has never been on on the Britannia Approved Panel. Is it possible for me to continue with my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Britannia panel?

The limited options available to you here include:

1. Carry on with your preferred Heckmondwike solicitors but Britannia will need to use a lawyer on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing charges and result in frustration.
2. Get an alternative practitioner to to deal with the purchase, not forgetting to check they are on the Britannia panel

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one near me in Heckmondwike I like with a park and transport links nearby, however it only has 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Heckmondwike suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?

If you require a mortgage that many years will likely be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

My husband and I are novice buyers - had an offer accepted, yet the agent has warned us that the vendor will only go ahead if we appoint their recommended lawyers as they need a ‘quick sale’. Our preferred option is to instruct a high street conveyancer who is familiar with conveyancing in Heckmondwike

We suspect that the owner is not behind this request. Should the seller want ‘a quick sale', alienating a genuine purchaser is likely to cause more damage than good. Speak to the vendors direct and make sure they understand (a)you are genuine purchasers (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you intend to use your preferred Heckmondwike conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will provide their estate agent a commission or hit his conveyancing targets demanded by senior management.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Heckmondwike where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Heckmondwike conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start 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 has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 buyer.

Heckmondwike Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

This information is helpful as a) areas may cause problems for the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where repairs remain unpaid b) if the tenants have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to have all the details Best to be warned if a new roof is being installed or some other major work is pending that will be shared amongst the leaseholders and may well dramatically increase the the service charges or necessitate a one time payment. It would be prudent to find out as much as you can regarding the managing agents as they will either make your life much simpler or problematic. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical matters such as the cleanliness of the communal areas. Ask other tenants if they are happy with their management. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that the service charges are due to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending the funds.