Having been recommended your company we were about to go ahead with a conveyancing solicitor in Upper Edmonton recommended on your site but have come across some other quotes on the internet look cheaper – why is this?

There are plenty of conveyancers advertising what appear to be cut price. We would encourage you to give due consideration about how much you respect your own move to want to be penny wise pound foolish over the standard of the legal work. Some hide extras well inside the terms of engagement. The conveyancers that we put forward for conveyancing in Upper Edmonton will notdo this.

Our lawyer has uncovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the property we are buying in Upper Edmonton. The seller’s lawyers have suggested defective title insurance as a solution. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our conveyancing practitioner says that he must ensure that the bank is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the lender?

Notwithstanding that you have a mortgage offer from the bank does not mean to say that the property will meet their requirements for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. You and the lender are the client. These conveyancing instructions must be adhered to.

My husband and I are new on the property ladder - agreed a price, but the selling agent informed us that the owners will only move forward if we appoint the agent's preferred solicitors as they want a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a high street conveyancer used to conveyancing in Upper Edmonton

We suspect that the owner is not behind this requirement. If they require ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated buyer is not the way to achieve this. Bypass the agents and go straight to the owners and make the point that (a)you are motivated buyers (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you are going to instruct your own,trusted Upper Edmonton conveyancing firm - not the ones that will earn the estate agent a kickback or achieve conveyancing targets demanded by head office.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Upper Edmonton where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Upper Edmonton conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I purchased a 2 bed flat in Upper Edmonton, conveyancing formalities finalised July 1998. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Upper Edmonton with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2094

You have 68 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

We own a leasehold flat in Upper Edmonton. Conveyancing was finished in five years ago. I have read on a number of advice forums that I should not let the lease length fall too short. Why is that a problem?

Upper Edmonton domestic long term leases are for a fixed period - often just under one hundred years when they are first granted. However many appartments in Upper Edmonton were built or converted in the 60’s and so these leases now have under 80 years unexpired. This may sound like plenty of time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage institutions tend to need leases to have at least 75 years unexpired to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are nearing 75 years. To optimize your property value you should be thinking about whether or not to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. Please note that there are strong financial reasons to taking action before the lease hits eighty years as when the lease falls below 80 years the premium you have to pay to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.