About to place an offer on a leasehold property in Oakdale. The estate agents assure me that it is usual for flats in Oakdale to have less than 75 years left on the lease. I am obtaining a loan with Chelsea Building Society. Is this going to be a problem if the lease has 70 years to go.

Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are getting a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Chelsea Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 26/8/2025 the requirements read as follows :

I am buying a end of terrace house in Oakdale. Our aim is to carry out an extension to the side at the property.Will legal investigations on the property include enquiries to ascertain if these works were previously refused?

Your conveyancer will check the deeds as conveyancing in Oakdale can occasionally identify restrictions in the title documents which prevent certain works or necessitated the consent of another owner. Many extensions need local authority planning permissions and approval in compliance with building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or impact extensions. It would be prudent to check these things with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.

I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in December 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, TSB are being difficult. The Oakdale solicitor who is on the TSB conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but TSB are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do TSB have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that TSB have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why TSB may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

I was told four weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by Aldermore. Is it usual for Aldermore to only issue the offer once my solicitor in Oakdale is approved on their conveyancing panel? Aldermore have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their PI Insurance.

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Aldermore to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

My friend advised me that if I am purchasing in Oakdale 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 usually included in the estimate for your Oakdale conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about Oakdale around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Oakdale Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Oakdale.

I have justfound out that Stirling Law have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Oakdale for a purchase of a freehold house 12 months ago. How can I establish that the property is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?

The quickest method to check if the premises is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Oakdale conveyancing specialists.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Oakdale. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, but I have recently had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge as you normally would as all rents and maintenance payments should be allotted on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Oakdale Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before buying

Who takes charge for maintaining and repairing the block? In the main the outlay for major works tend not to be incorporated into the service charges, although a few managing agents in Oakdale require leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major works.