It is is a decade since I acquired my house in Henbury. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been retained on the sale but I am unable to locate my deeds. Is this a problem?

Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be retained by the lender or they could still be with the solicitor who handled your purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Henbury relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is unregistered it is more problematic but is not insurmountable.

A colleague recommended that where I am purchasing in Henbury I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard Henbury conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Henbury around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Henbury Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Henbury.

I am thinking of appointing a conveyancing lawyer in Henbury for my house move. Can I see a solicitor's complaints history with the profession’s regulator?

Anyone can find presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions resulting from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For records Pre 2008, or to check a firm's history, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator sometimes recorded telephone calls for training reasons.

I own a leasehold house in Henbury. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Henbury who previously acted has now retired. Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Henbury conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Henbury - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Plenty Henbury leasehold flats will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the freeholder. If you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this charge, usually periodically throughout the year. This may be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, normally this is not a exorbitant figure, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to check it because occasionally it could be surprisingly expensive. Make sure you enquire if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. By way of example some leases prohibit pets being permitted in certain buildings in Henbury. If you like the flatin Henbury however your cat can’t make the move with you then you will be faced hard choice. What is the the remaining lease term?

My financial adviser has suggested using their solicitor for our conveyancing in Henbury - Is it not simpler better to just instruct them?

It is not always the case and you are free to instruct whichever property lawyer of your choosing for your Henbury conveyancing. The property lawyer put forward by an estate agent may not necessarily be the right conveyancing practitioner, they may recommend their preferred conveyancing firm who are based far away. In this instance you may not have contact with your conveyancing practitioner and due to the lack of continuity in the transaction, it may be difficult to obtain progress reports.