I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Almondsbury. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Almondsbury - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

There are only 68 years left on my lease in Almondsbury. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. For most situations a specialist would be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Almondsbury.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two flats in Almondsbury both have in the region of 50 years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Almondsbury is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty 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 premises 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 Almondsbury conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed 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.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Almondsbury where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Almondsbury conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having 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.

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 provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Almondsbury with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Almondsbury can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Almondsbury leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.

Almondsbury Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before buying

The majority of Almondsbury leasehold properties will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the building set on behalf of the landlord. Should you buy the property you will have to meet this liability, usually quarterly throughout the year. This may differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a large amount, say about £50-£100 but you need to enquire it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. The best form of lease arrangement is where the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is often retained where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Who manages the block?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Almondsbury