We were just about to exchange contracts for a freehold house in Stapleford. We encountered a snag. The mortgage offer with Bank of Scotland expires on 15/4/2026 but the sellers are putting forward a completion date of 17/4/2026. Is it possible to extend the loan offer?
The best person to deal with your concern is your lawyer who will hopefully calculate whether he or she is corresponding with the lender, seller’s lawyers, property agents or conceivably all parties based on what has happend in your house move as of today.
Various internet forums that I have visited warn that are the number one reason for hinderance in Stapleford house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the common causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Stapleford.
I own a terraced Edwardian property in Stapleford. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Britannia. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Stapleford and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Stapleford I like with a park and railway links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Stapleford in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan that many years will be an issue. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass 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 solicitor regarding this.
I am 3 weeks into a leasehold purchase having been referred to conveyancers by the estate agent to handle our conveyancing in Stapleford. We are not happy. Could you help me find new lawyers?
A lawyer would need to be really poor in order to consider changing them. Has the mortgage been issued? In the event that it has you need to inform them of the new contact details and have the loan are re-issued. Your new solicitor ideally needs to be on the lenders panel to avoid added charges and frustration. So that should be your first question of the new conveyancers. Our find a solicitor tool should assist you in finding a lender approved lawyer for your conveyancing in Stapleford
We today found out that one of the directors of the law firm acting on the purchase conveyancing in Stapleford is an aunty of the seller. Is this allowed?
Provided there is no conflict of interest this should be fine. If you are obtaining mortgage finance then the mortgage company may have a say as many lenders have specific requirements concerning this. For example for Royal Bank of Scotland as of 15/2/2026, the requirements read as follows :