There are only Sixty One years left on my lease in Arnside. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Arnside.

Expecting to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Arnside. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark

Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Arnside please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Arnside

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Arnside. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Arnside with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Arnside can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Arnside charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Arnside.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Arnside leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. If you fail to have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Arnside conveyancing deal. Where a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £225000 flat in Arnside in just under a week. The management company has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Arnside?

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

• Answering pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Arnside
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Arnside leasehold premises is £350. For Arnside 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 provide answers.

Arnside Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Who manages the building? How is the lease structured? It would be sensible to find out as much as you can about the managing agents as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day issues such as the upkeep of the common parts. Ask other people if they are happy with them. Finally, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the relevant party and specifically what it includes.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Arnside