Top Five Questions relating to Aldermanbury leasehold conveyancing
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Aldermanbury. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Aldermanbury - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
My fiance and I may need to sub-let our Aldermanbury garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Aldermanbury conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?
Notwithstanding that your last Aldermanbury conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.
Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Aldermanbury. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?
In a situation 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 work for a reputable estate agency in Aldermanbury where we see a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Aldermanbury conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.
Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Aldermanbury conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?
If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Aldermanbury conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Aldermanbury conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be of use:
- How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
I am the proprietor of a ground floor flat in Aldermanbury. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum due for a lease extension?
in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to assess the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Aldermanbury premises is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case related to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 72.39 years.
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