About to place a bid on a leasehold apartment in Northam. The selling agents assure me that it is standard for flats in Northam to have less than 75 years unexpired on the lease. I am obtaining a loan with Chelsea Building Society. Is this going to be acceptable if the lease has 69 years left.
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. Chelsea Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 11/11/2026 the requirements read as follows :
Me and my partner are buying a flat in Northam. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? On completion day we will need to put our life savings into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our deposit?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
My partner and I are spending time looking at houses in Northam and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I intend to finance via a mortgage with Leeds Building Society.
You should start obtaining conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the selling agent. As you are obtaining a mortgage with Leeds Building Society, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel.
I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Northam. I have a mortgage offer with Lloyds. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Lloyds, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Lloyds conveyancing panel.
I understand that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I need this when buying a property in Northam? or Apparently there is a law dating back centuries that could mean that house owners living in a parish church boundary will be compelled to pay for maintenance towards the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this relevant for conveyancing in Northam?
Unless a previous acquisition of the property completed after 12 October 2013 you could expect lawyers delivering conveyancing in Northam to remain recommending a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Northam?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Northam. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Northam. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.
Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Northam - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I purchased a basement flat in Northam, conveyancing was carried out in 1999. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable properties in Northam with an extended lease are worth £195,000. The ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease runs out on 21st October 2089
With 63 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £16,200 and £18,600 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
Why can I not complete our conveyancing in Northam on Easter Monday?
Because on completion the money needs to be transferred electronically between the banks of the buyer and seller's solicitor and currently this can only take place on a business day. It is not possible to complete on a saturday or sunday either.