Our family lawyer has quoted £1350 for no sale no fee conveyancing in Bessacarr. I’m selling a modern detached home for £275,000. This seems too much. Is it in excess of what I should be paying for conveyancing in Bessacarr?
The charges are a bit high. Where you are content to expend time contrasting quotes you might get the conveyancing a bit cheaper by say £100 plus VAT. On the other hand, you mightcome to rue opting for an an unknown lawyer. If is important to be sure that the firm can act for your mortgage company. You can use our search tool to find a Bessacarr conveyancing practice on the banks approved list of lawyers which can often include conveyancing solicitors in Bessacarr.
Do conveyancers ask for an advanced payment when it comes to conveyancing in Bessacarr?
If you are buying a property in Bessacarr your lawyer will request that you place them with funds to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. When the deposit is payable against the purchase price then this should be asked for immediately ahead of exchange of contracts. The closing balance that is due should be transferred shortly before completion.
I have 71 years unexpired on my lease and require a lease extension for my flat in Bessacarr. Conveyancing solicitors on the The Mortgage Works panel can deal with such extensions correct?
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are securing a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. The Mortgage Works have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 30/11/2025 the requirements read as follows :
Where the unexpired lease term is different to that recorded on the mortgage offer, the following clarifies if we need to be informed:
Second hand property:
- If the unexpired lease term on the offer is 85 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 85 years
- if the unexpired lease term on the offer is less than 85 years – advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported
- For equity share applications - advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
New build property:
- If the unexpired lease term stated on the offer is 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house) or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house)
- For equity share applications - always advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
Lease terms such as ground rent and event fees must be reasonable at all times during the term of the lease and adhere to our requirements below. If you’re unsure as to whether the terms of a lease are unreasonable or onerous, please refer the details to us in plain English for Valuer consideration. If the potentially onerous terms are in relation to the ground rent please include the current ground rent figure per annum, how often it will be reviewed and the price structure it will be reviewed against. See the guidance below.
SECOND HAND PROPERTIES
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 70 years
- Less than 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term
- Ground Rent greater than 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent doubles less than every 20 years (e.g. doubles every 5, 10 or 15 years) - acceptable if doubles every 20 years or more
- Ground Rent is compounded RPI
- Ground Rent review period less than or equal to 5 years
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Unexpired lease term is 70 to 85 years
- Ground Rent greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to any indices greater than RPI
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building*
- Ground Rent review period is greater than 5 and less than 10 years
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1.0% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything that appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than 85 years
- Ground Rent less than or equal to 0.1% of the property value
- Ground Rent review period greater than or equal to 10 years
- Ground Rent escalation less than or equal to RPI
NEW BUILD PROPERTIES (includes office conversions)
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 125 years on a new build flat or less than 250 years on a new build house
- Any lease which is subject to a ground rent (or annual rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
- Any lease which is subject to a ground rent (or annual rent) being reviewed and altered on any review basis or methodology
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1.0% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything else appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than or equal to 125 years on a new build flat or greater than or equal to 250 years on a new build house
- A lease subject to a peppercorn ground rent (annual rent) charges
For the avoidance of doubt, any new build properties completed but not sold pre 30 June 2022 will only be acceptable if the lease conforms to the above guidance
* Where the Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building, please provide the following:
- How is the value of the block/unit currently calculated and if the assessment relates to the block(s), how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned per property?
- The current valuation and Ground Rent for each unit
- What is the mechanism for future valuations of the block and how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned?
- What is the right of appeal? And is this a documented process within the lease?
- Who bears the cost of the valuation (and appeal) process?
- Confirmation the review period is not less than twenty years
LEASE EXTENSIONS
We require all lease extensions to be completed under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and to meet the above criteria as a minimum. Where you become aware that it does not meet these requirements, please refer to the Issuing Office
Please ensure that all lender enquiries are submitted (with full documentation/requirements) at least 2 weeks prior to exchange to allow sufficient time for review and decisioning.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one near me in Bessacarr I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 years on the lease. There is not much else in Bessacarr suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?
Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
We're novice buyers - agreed a price, yet the agent told us that the seller will only proceed if we instruct their preferred conveyancers as they want a ‘quick sale’. We would rather use a local conveyancer used to conveyancing in Bessacarr
It is highly unlikely the vendors are behind this. Should the seller desire ‘a quick sale', turning down a serious purchaser is not the way to achieve this. Speak to the vendors direct and explain that (a)you are serious purchasers (b)you are ready to go, with finances arranged © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you are going to appoint your own,trusted Bessacarr conveyancing firm - as opposed tothe ones that will earn their estate agent a referral fee or achieve conveyancing figures demanded by corporate headquarters.
I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Bessacarr where we see a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Bessacarr conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
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.
Bessacarr Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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It would be prudent to discover as much as you can regarding the company managing the building as they can either make life much simpler or uncomfortable. As the owner of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day issues such as the tidiness of the common parts. Ask prospective neighbours what they think of their service. Finally, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the managing agents and precisely how they are spending that money. Plenty Bessacarr leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the management company. Should you purchase the flat you will have to meet this amount, usually periodically accross the year. This can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large figure, say about £25-£75 but you need to check as on occasion it could be surprisingly expensive. If a Bessacarr lease has no more than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the property. Check with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out what this would cost. For most Bessacarrlease extensions you will be required to have been the owner of the premises for 24 months in order to be entitled to extend the lease.