I have given 2 months notice to my existing landlord and must vacate my let out flat in Birtley by 11/3/2026. Conveyancing for my house purchase is underway. Is it possible to complete in three weeks as I wish to avoid having to find short term accommodation?

Generally one should not provide notice for your letting unless exchange of contracts has taken place. If you have not previously done so, speak to your solicitor and urge them to they seek the assistance the other solicitors, try to a target completion date that all parties will look towards

I am purchasing a garden flat in Birtley. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Birtley you will have to appoint a solicitor on your bank's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Birtley.

Is it best to instruct a Birtley conveyancing lawyer based in the vicinity that I am purchasing? An old friend can execute the conveyancing but his firm is located approximately 350kilometers drive away.

The primary upside of using a local Birtley conveyancing practice is that you can drop in to execute paperwork, deliver your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local knowledge which is a plus. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust instructed your friend and in the main were impressed that must trump using an unknown Birtley conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being Birtley based.

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Birtley where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Birtley conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 has to be done before, or at the same time as 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 buyer.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Birtley - A selection of Queries before buying

Most Birtley leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the landlord. If you buy the property you will have to pay this amount, normally in instalments throughout the year. This can differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, normally this is not a exorbitant sum, say about £50-£100 but you should to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. In the main the cost for major works tend not to be incorporated into the service charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Birtley ask leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major repairs or maintenance. Is the freehold owned collectively by the leaseholders?

I’m about to sell my garden apartment in Birtley.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated however I have recently received a yearly service charge invoice – what should I do?

It best that you pay the service charge as normal given that all rents and maintenance invoices will be allottedon completion, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process