It is is a decade since I purchased my property in Peterborough. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been instructed on the sale but I am unable to track down my deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?

Don’t worry too much. First the deeds may be retained by your mortgage company or they could stored with the lawyers who handled your purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring current official copies of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Peterborough relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.

We are selling our house in Peterborough. Will my conveyancing practitioner need to be required to be on the Skipton conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Skipton conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.

I completed on my flat on 13 February and the transaction details is not yet on the land registry website. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Peterborough said it would be formalised in less than a month. Are properties in Peterborough particularly slow to register?

There is nothing unique about conveyancing in Peterborough registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timescales can differ depending on who lodges the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry need to notify any other parties. As of today approximately 80% of submission are completed in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be extensive hold-ups. Historically registration is effected once the new owner is living at the premises therefore registration formalities is not always top priority yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.

How do I use your search tool to select a conveyancing solicitor in Peterborough on the approved list for my mortgage?

Step one is to pick a mortgage company such as Nationwide Building Society, Virgin Money or Platform Home Loans Ltd then choose your location for instance Peterborough. Conveyancing organisations in Peterborough and beyond will then be identified.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Peterborough which have about forty five years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Peterborough. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena.

I acquired a garden flat in Peterborough, conveyancing having been completed November 2005. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Peterborough with over 90 years remaining are worth £186,000. The ground rent is £55 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2077

With only 53 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £27,600 and £31,800 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.