Defective lease - any experience?

[maybebabybee]

We are currently buying our first flat - mortgage etc approved so all is now with the solicitors moving towards exchange. Our solicitor updated us today saying she was still waiting for responses to various enquiries, one of which is a defect in the lease needing to be rectified by the freeholders. The defect is that the lease has been extended, but previous to that it was altered to include a few clauses. When the lease was extended, no mention would made of these alterations and so they don't apply. Solicitor says they are having this 'rectified'.

Any thoughts? Is this going to be a major stumbling block? Am 35 weeks pregnant and emotional so I am finding this whole process stressy. Our lease ends on our current flat at the end of April and we can't stay any longer than that so we are up against it time wise.

Have you got a copy of the Lease and a copy of the Lease Extension? Perhaps scrutinise both to see what the Lease Extension doesn't mention. There are probably various "rules" in the original Lease that were not carried over to the Lease Extension which may mean there are some discrepancies and the solicitor wants the Extension to be rectified to protect you, their client. Hopefully not a stumbling block, more a case of making sure all is in order before you exchange. Unfortunately, freeholders can take some time to respond so there may be a slight delay but probably best to go along with it and let your solicitor deal with the issue.

No of course, we absolutely will pull out if it comes to it.

What I don't understand though is how the last lot managed to buy it? Their solicitor is the wife's father and he's been insanely diligent about everything, so seems weird he would have missed this when they bought the flat four years ago .

I do have a copy of the lease but my pregnancy brain is making it incomprehensible to me.

Not a major stumbling block for me. The flat I live in now had a defective lease. My solicitor made sure the sellers' solicitor rectified it all before we exchanged. That's what you are paying the solicitors for IMO, to sort out the paperwork. Ours took about 4 months from offer to moving in.

Congrats on your pregnancy Brave of you to be planning to move house with a tiny baby.

You can't really know what happened with the previous purchase. Maybe the father/solicitor is being diligent this time because he fucked up last time.

Aging I know, everyone is telling us we are mad but baby was a (nice) surprise so not much choice really. We live in London and would rather not carry on renting so was now or never...

Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. So hard to know what everything means when you've never done it before.