The Sunningdale conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my purchase in Sunningdale have suddenly closed. I chose them because I needed a firm on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel and my preferred Sunningdale lawyer was not. I paid them funds on account. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Clydesdale 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 should be in a position to help.

I require fast conveyancing in Sunningdale as I am under a deadline to exchange contracts in less than one month. A mortgage is not required. Can I avoid the conveyancing searches to save fees and time?

As you are are a cash buyer you have the choice not to do searches although no lawyer would advise that you don't. With lots of history conveyancing in Sunningdale the following are examples of what can appear and adversely impact future saleability: Refused Planning Applications, Outstanding Fees, Overdue Grants, Railway Schemes,...

I used Wolstenholmes a few years past for my conveyancing in Sunningdale. Now, I need the documents however the law firm has closed. What do I do?

Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Sunningdale of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one round the corner in Sunningdale I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Sunningdale for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a home loan that many years will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension 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 consult your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since been informed that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a house with a leasehold title in Sunningdale. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Sunningdale ?

Most houses in Sunningdale are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in Sunningdale in which case you should be shopping around for a Sunningdale conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the landlord’spermission to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Sunningdale - Examples of Questions you should consider before buying

It would be prudent to discover as much as possible regarding the company managing the building as they can either make life much simpler or much more difficult. Being a leasehold owner you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily issues such as the tidiness of the communal areas. Ask other people whether they are happy with their management. In conclusion, be sure you discover the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the managing agents and precisely what it includes. Where a Sunningdale lease has fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the property. It is worth checking with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the property for 24 months before you are entitled to carry out a lease extension. This information is helpful as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the managing agents you will want to know about it