We were just about to sign contracts for a garden flat in Old Stratford. We encountered a problem. Our mortgage offer with Barclays runs out on 15/10/2025 but the sellers are insisting on a completion date of 17/10/2025. Is it possible to prolong the mortgage expiry date?

The person best placed to address this issue is your lawyer who should determine whether he or she is better off negotiating with the mortgage company, owner’s lawyers, selling agents or indeed all three given the history of your house move to date.

Do I need to pay for insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when acquiring a property in Old Stratford?

Unless a previous acquisition of the property completed post 12 October 2013 you may assume that lawyers handling conveyancing in Old Stratford to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.

My wife and I have a terraced Georgian property in Old Stratford. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Clydesdale. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the exact same address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??

You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Old Stratford and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also check the position with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Old Stratford. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Set out below is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Old Stratford

The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose?

I have been recommended by a number of estate agents in Old Stratford to locate a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to market your lawyers over and above a competitor’s?

We don’t offer any referral fee for directing people in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission as members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.