Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Arthog

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

Questions and Answers: Arthog leasehold conveyancing

My wife and I may need to sub-let our Arthog ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Arthog conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Arthog conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Looking forward to complete next month on a leasehold property in Arthog. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Arthog should include some of the following:

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • 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
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Arthog please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Arthog

    • Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in Arthog. Conveyancing and Coventry Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in Arthog who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

    First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Arthog conveyancing solicitor 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 legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

    I am looking at a two maisonettes in Arthog both have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

    There are plenty of short leases in Arthog. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

    I am employed by a long established estate agency in Arthog where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Arthog conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

    Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with 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 purchaser.

    Arthog Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

      Please note if it is less than 80 years it will affect the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably require a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out what this will be. For most Arthoglease extensions you will need to own the residence for 24 months before you are eligible to extend the lease. Is the freehold owned jointly by the tenants? It is important to be aware if window replacement or some other major work is due shortly to be shared by the leaseholders and will materially impact the level of the maintenance fees or require a one off invoice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Arthog