The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in St James. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.

Here are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in St James

Please supply a car parking plan. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified.

I decided to have a survey completed on a house in St James prior to retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor advised that some mortgage companies tend refuse to grant a mortgage on this type of house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can investigate further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in St James. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in St James to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

I was advised by numerous selling agents in St James to locate a solicitor using your seach tool. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to promote your site over a competitor’s?

We don’t give any financial incentive for directing people to this site. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

My husband and I are novice buyers - agreed a price, yet the agent has warned us that the vendor will only go ahead if we appoint the agent's preferred conveyancers as they need a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a family solicitor with experience of conveyancing in St James

It is unlikely the vendors are behind this. Should the vendor want ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a serious buyer is not the way to achieve this. Try to communicate with the owners directly and explain that (a)you are genuine purchasers (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you will continue to appoint your own,trusted St James conveyancing firm - rather thanthose that will give their negotiator at the agency a introducer fee or meet his conveyancing targets demanded by corporate headquarters.

Due to exchange soon on a leasehold property in St James. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in St James should include some of the following:

What you can do if another tenant in the building is in violation of a provision in their lease? The landlord’s rights to access the premises. You should be made aware that your landlord has rights of access as well as be informed how much notice must be provided. You must be told what is to be regarded as a Nuisance in the lease Does the lease prohibit wood flooring? Changes to the premises

St James Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Where a St James lease has fewer than eighty years it will affect the salability of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are happy with residual term of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the residence for a couple of years before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension. The prefered form of lease structure is where the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the lessees enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is frequently employed where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. Best to be warned if window replacement or some other major work is coming up that will be shared by the tenants and may well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance fees or necessitate a specific payment.