My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Aberystwyth. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Aberystwyth who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Aberystwyth conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Aberystwyth. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Aberystwyth where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Aberystwyth conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Aberystwyth from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Aberystwyth can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Aberystwyth state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you dont have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer first.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Aberystwyth home move. If a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £375000 apartment in Aberystwyth in seven days. The freeholder has quoted £300 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Aberystwyth?

For most leasehold sales in Aberystwyth conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Aberystwyth
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Aberystwyth leasehold property is £350. For Aberystwyth 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.

I bought a garden flat in Aberystwyth, conveyancing was carried out 7 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Aberystwyth with an extended lease are worth £198,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2089

You have 64 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £15,200 and £17,600 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Aberystwyth