I have given 2 months notice to my current landlord and must vacate my rented apartment in Burford by the end of next month. Conveyancing for my house purchase has just started. How realistic is it to complete in 4 weeks as I wish to avoid having to move into short term accommodation?

Generally one should not give notice for your letting until exchange of contracts has taken place. Assuming that you have not previously done so, contact to your conveyancer and urge them to they chase the sellers solicitors, try to a target completion date that everyone will aim towards

As I am unsure how the conveyancing bit works what is the most important advice you can give me concerning purchase conveyancing in Burford?

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Burford and elsewhere in England and Wales is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists plenty of opportunity for confrontation between you and others involved in the transaction. For instance, the vendor, property agent and even potentially your mortgage company. Appointing a law firm for your conveyancing in Burford an important selection as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONE person in the transaction whose role it is to act in your legal interests and to protect you.

There is a distinct ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be blamed for the process being so protracted. You should always trust your solicitor ahead of the other players when it comes to the legal transfer of property.

I moved into my apartment on 4 October and my personal details is not yet on the land registry website. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Burford said it would be registered inside ten days. Are properties in Burford particularly slow to register?

As far as conveyancing in Burford is concerned, registration is no quicker or slower than anywhere else in England and Wales. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can adjust according to who lodges the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry have to notify any other parties. Currently roughly 80% of submission are completed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to protracted delays. Historically registration takes place once the new owner has moved in to the property so 'speed' is not typically primary concern yet if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor could communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Burford. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Set out below is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Burford

Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £125,000 maisonette in Burford in 8 days. The management company has quoted £348 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Burford?

Burford conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times necessitates fees being raised by managing agents :

Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions Where consent is required before sale in Burford Copies of the building insurance and schedule Deeds of covenant upon sale Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Burford leasehold premises is £350. For Burford conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

Burford Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Where a Burford lease has fewer than 80 years it will impact the value of the property. Check with your bank that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for two years before you are legally able to carry out a lease extension. The answer will be important as a) areas could result in problems for the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if repairs remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will want to have all the details