As a first time buyer what is the most important piece of guidance you can give me about purchase conveyancing in Bedford?

You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Bedford and elsewhere in Bedfordshire is an adversarial experience. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists lots of room for conflict between you and others involved in the house moving process. E.g., the seller, selling agent and sometimes a lender. Selecting a law firm for your conveyancing in Bedford is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the transaction whose responsibility is to look after your best interests and to protect you.

There is a worrying ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you your first instinct should be to trust your lawyer ahead of all other players when it comes to the legal assignment of property.

I am buying a house and the conveyancer has identified Chancel Repair to which the property may be liable because it falls into the area of such a church. He has recommended insurance. Is this really required for conveyancing in Bedford

Unless a prior acquisition of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you may take it that lawyers conducting conveyancing in Bedford to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my property are lost. The lawyers who dealt with the conveyancing in Bedford 10 years ago are no longer around. 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 property, given that the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Bedford where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Bedford conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 prior to, or at the same time as 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.

Bedford Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Is the freehold owned jointly by the tenants? Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Bedford obliged tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major works.

What type of premises does your Bedford conveyancing quotes relate to?

Our conveyancing quotes are only relevant to standard domestic premises in England & Wales. If you have any different requirements for instance industrial or agricultural land or commercial conveyancing in Bedford you should contact us to consider this further .