I am buying a garden flat in Bagshot. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Bagshot you will have to appoint a solicitor on your mortgage company's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Bagshot.

I am purchasing my first flat in Bagshot with a loan from Barclays Direct. The builders refused to budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not disclose to my solicitor about this extras as it will put at risk my loan with Barclays Direct. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I am looking for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Bagshot I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 51 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bagshot for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a mortgage that many years will be problematic. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.

How straightforward is it to use the search tool to locate a conveyancing solicitor in Bagshot on the approved list for my bank?

First pick a mortgage company such as Yorkshire Building Society, Coventry Building Society or Barclays Direct then specify your preferred area such as Bagshot. Conveyancing practices in Bagshot and beyond should be identified.

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Bagshot. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Bagshot - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I purchased a split level flat in Bagshot, conveyancing was carried out January 2011. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Bagshot with a long lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2086

With just 61 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £19,000 and £22,000 as well as costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do 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 you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.