We were just about to sign contracts for a leasehold flat in Higham Ferrers. We have hit a stumbling block. The mortgage offer with Santander runs out on 2/3/2026 but the vendors are putting forward a completion date of 4/3/2026. Can one prolong the loan offer?

The person best placed to address this question is your lawyer who will hopefully calculate whether he or she is should be discussing with the mortgage company, owner’s solicitors, selling agents or indeed all three taking into account what has gone on in your conveyancing to date.

The Higham Ferrers conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my purchase in Higham Ferrers have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Santander conveyancing panel and my family Higham Ferrers lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Santander conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help.

It has been three months since my purchase conveyancing in Higham Ferrers completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

Are there frequently found deficiencies that you come across in leases for Higham Ferrers properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Higham Ferrers. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Birmingham Midshires, Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Higham Ferrers - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

How much is the ground rent and service charge? The answer will be important as a) areas may cause problems for the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will wish to have complete disclosure The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.

When it comes to my conveyancing in Higham Ferrers should I be paying VAT on the following: (1) Land reg fee on purchase (2) Pre - completion search fee (3) SDLT E submission on purchase (4) Bank TT fee

(1) Land reg fee on purchase - No (2) Pre - completion search fees -No, (such conveyancing searches are HMLR ones and means £4 and possibly £2 bankruptcy per name on your mortgage) (3) SDLT E submission on your purchase - There is no VAT on Stamp Duty. However if the firm is charging a stamp duty e-submission fee as part of their services - some Higham Ferrers conveyancers do - that will incur VAT(4) Bank transfer fee - Yes it is for the conveyancing practitioner's time in submitting the funds this way.