Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Abergele:

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While any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Abergele, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Abergele leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I only have Sixty One years left on my lease in Abergele. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Abergele.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Abergele. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully next week. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Abergele should include some of the following:

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
  • Setting out your rights in respect of the communal areas in the building.For instance, does the lease provide for a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
  • Repair and maintenance of the flat
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Abergele please enquire of your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Abergele

    • I have just appointed agents to market my garden apartment in Abergele.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly service charge invoice – what should I do?

    It best that you pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

    I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Abergele which have in the region of forty five years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

    There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Abergele is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Abergele conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Abergele from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Abergele can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
    • The majority landlords or Management Companies in Abergele levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Abergele.
  • Some Abergele leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a new share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Abergele home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Abergele, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable properties in Abergele with an extended lease are worth £245,000. The ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2087

    With just 62 years left to run the likely cost is going to range between £17,100 and £19,800 as well as professional fees.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Abergele