Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Aston Clinton. Before I get started I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Aston Clinton - 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.

I only have 72 years left on my flat in Aston Clinton. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Aston Clinton.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Aston Clinton. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
• Does the lease prevent you from renting out the flat, or working from home
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Aston Clinton where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Aston Clinton conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

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. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 Aston Clinton with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Aston Clinton can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Aston Clinton charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for 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 usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Aston Clinton.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Aston Clinton leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. If you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Aston Clinton home move. Where a duplicate share is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Aston Clinton Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

It is important to be aware if window replacement or some other significant cost is due shortly that will be shared amongst the leaseholders and will materially increase the the maintenance costs or require a one off payment.