My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Southborough. Conveyancing is necessary. What are my next steps?

Having legally committed yourself to purchase you will need to find a conveyancing lawyer soon as you now have a tight deadline in which to complete the conveyancing. An auction property will ordinarily have an associated legal set of papers. This should include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. If you have purchased leasehold property the conveyancing papers should include a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork relating to leasehold premises. You need to pass this on to the conveyancer working for you at the earliest opportunity. You also need to ensure that you have funds in order to complete on the on the contractual date .

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a two bedroom flat in Southborough. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Southborough?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be invited to collect the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen early afternoon.

We expect to receive a AIP from Skipton this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Skipton recommend any Southborough solicitors on the Skipton conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?

You will need to appoint Southborough solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Skipton conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Skipton through the process.

I used Stirling Law a few years ago for my conveyancing in Southborough. I now require my papers but cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?

You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Southborough of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in Southborough I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Southborough suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.

I am looking at a two apartments in Southborough which have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Southborough is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Southborough conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease. You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I am the proprietor of a second floor flat in Southborough. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium payable for the purchase of the freehold?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Southborough conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Southborough premises is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 50.57 years.

When it comes to my conveyancing in Southborough should I be paying VAT on the following: (1) Land reg fee on purchase (2) Pre - completion search fee (3) SDLT E submission on purchase (4) Bank TT fee

(1) Land reg fee on purchase - No (2) Pre - completion search fees -No, (such conveyancing searches are HMLR ones and means £4 and possibly £2 bankruptcy per name on your mortgage) (3) SDLT E submission on your purchase - There is no VAT on Stamp Duty. However if the firm is charging a stamp duty e-submission fee as part of their services - some Southborough conveyancers do - that will incur VAT(4) Bank transfer fee - Yes it is for the solicitor's time in submitting the funds this way.