The deeds to our home are lost. The conveyancers who conducted the conveyancing in Upney 4 years ago have long since closed. What do I do?

You no longer need to hold title original deeds to establish that you are the owner of your registered land or premises, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. Upney is the location of the property. Is there any guidance you can impart?

Flying freeholds in Upney are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Upney you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Upney may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.

What does commercial conveyancing in Upney cover?

Non domestic conveyancing in Upney incorporates a broad array of guidance, provided by regulated solicitors, relating to business property. By way of example, this area of conveyancing can cover the sale or purchase of freehold business premises or, more commonly, the assignment of existing business tenancies or the drafting of new leasing arrangements. Commercial conveyancing solicitors can also offer advice on the sale of business assets, commercial mortgages and the termination of leases.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Upney where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Upney conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 purchaser.

Having spent months of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Upney. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Upney conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Upney residence is 49 Aldborough Road South in July 2012. The Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of the new lease was £13,925 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 61.36 years.

Me and my fiance have just had an offer accepted on a property and had an appointment on Tuesday with the Post Office for the mortgage. They advised us that when it comes to appointing a lawyer that unless they are on their approved panel of property lawyers then we will incur a further charge of £250+. This is because they would then have to select a property lawyer to act on their behalf as well as the one we select for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their invoice. I have asked the Post Office to furnish me with a list so I can seek estimates only from their approved solicitors but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. What would be the best way of going about this?

You should ask the Post Office what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Then ask the lawyer of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on mortgages for the Post Office before. Where the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with the Post Office. Another option is to utilise our search tool and we may be able to find you a lawyer in Upney on the panel for the Post Office.