Complicated selling situation + Purplebricks + conveyancing + new leases

sluisdejesus

Thrugelmir said:

sluisdejesus said:

My mother is currently trying to sell a flat that is one of two after a 3 bed house (FREEHOLD) was converted  (lender approved works and all planning permission sought and signed off with building regs)

Sounds as if no thought was given to the challenge you now face though. Do you have a plan B? Sell the entire property for example. 

Selling the whole property would not be a simple affair as for all effects and purposes (barring having separate titles) they are 2 separate properties. They each have their own water/ utility meters, separate council tax etc

Besides the property was converted due to my parents' disabilities so it would again cause unnecessary hassle. I've been in touch with PB rep and he says he isn't aware of any other costs associated with dropping the conveyancers so if we don't receive a satisfactory answer by Thursday I'll pay the PB fee and instruct the other solicitor to get things moving in the right direction.

sluisdejesus

TBG01 said:

user1977 said:

sluisdejesus said:

they'd been told by their solicitors that drawing up a new lease would take a year

Why do they think it would take a year? It takes a few working hours to draft a lease. What did your mum's solicitors have to say about it?

Yes, but that's just drafting. There's likely to be back and forth between both sides. You also have to factor in getting someone to draw up lease plans. It's not year long job, but it's not a quick job either.

sluisdejesus said:

user1977 said:

sluisdejesus said:

they'd been told by their solicitors that drawing up a new lease would take a year

Why do they think it would take a year? It takes a few working hours to draft a lease. What did your mum's solicitors have to say about it?

Land Registry working from home, severely backlogged etc could take a year. I just think they don't want to do it. I don't understand how they expect a buyer to wait this long when the process could be started now instead of waiting for another offer that will inevitably fall through when they find out the wait.

The Land Registry can/will expedite the registering of the lease if it's holding up the sale. But as I say above, drawing up a new lease isn't as simple as the estate agent made it out to be (Chalk that up as another example of an estate agent not knowing the actual conveyancing process)

Thank you this is definitely helpful, I can see now why the local solicitor was confident it shouldn't take as long - you've given me some hope of getting this sorted out!