We're in Willerby, First time buyers buying with a mortgage (lender is Leeds Building Society , and our lawyer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancing practitioner should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and found one close by in Willerby I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Willerby for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage that many years will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.

Am I best advised to choose a Willerby conveyancing solicitor based in the vicinity that I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can perform the conveyancing but they are based approximately 350kilometers drive away.

The primary upside of using a local Willerby conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign paperwork, hand in your identification documents and apply pressure on them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a plus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and on the whole were impressed that should outweigh using an unknown Willerby conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being round the corner.

What are the frequently found defects that you witness in leases for Willerby properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Willerby is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Santander, Skipton Building Society, and Clydesdale all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

I acquired a split level flat in Willerby, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Willerby with a long lease are worth £206,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease expires on 21st October 2091

You have 66 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £11,400 and £13,200 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

Why can I not complete our conveyancing in Willerby on Good Friday?

Because on completion the purchase price will be transferred electronically between the banks of the purchaser and seller's lawyer and currently this can only happen on a business day. So you can't complete on a weekend either.