My wife and I purchased a 4 bedroom Edwardian house in Blakedown. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and . I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking to clarify?

You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Blakedown and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.

I decided to have a survey completed on a property in Blakedown in advance of retaining lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may not grant a mortgage on a flying freehold house.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions from Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Blakedown. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Blakedown to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.

We're new to the buying process - agreed a price, yet the estate agent informed us that the owners will only issue a contract if we appoint the agent's preferred solicitors as they need a ‘quick sale’. Our preferred option is to instruct a family solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Blakedown

It is unlikely the vendors are driving this. If they want ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a genuine buyer is going to damage their objectives. Speak to the owners direct and make the point that (a)you are genuine purchasers (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances in place © you are unencumbered (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you are going to appoint your preferred Blakedown conveyancing lawyers - rather thanthe ones that will give their estate agent a commission or achieve conveyancing targets set by HQ.

Blakedown Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability? Does the lease have onerous restrictions? Does the lease have in excess of 80 years unexpired?

Is there a reason that Blakedown conveyancing fees are more expensive for leasehold and freehold properties?

If purchasing a leasehold property there is more work involved purely due to the fact that usually there are further parties involved in the form of the freeholder and/or Management Agents. As part of a lawyers enquiries they will check that all ground rent and service charges are paid up to date amongst other general leasehold matters. For this reason, the Sellers lawyers usually have to refer to the freeholder or Managing Agent for their replies to our questions. This may be time consuming and beyond the lawyers control