I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Atherton. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Atherton - 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.

I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my lease in Atherton. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

If 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 extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Atherton.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Atherton where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Atherton conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £150000 apartment in Atherton next Tuesday . The management company has quoted £300 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Atherton?

Atherton conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally requires the purchaser’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address these enquiries the majority will be willing to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the charge is technically not due. In reality one has no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

What makes a Atherton lease unacceptable for security purposes?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Atherton. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Barnsley Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

Atherton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? Generally speaking the outlay for major works tend not to be wrapped into the service charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Atherton ask leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. Many Atherton leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the landlord. Should you buy the flat you will have to pay this liability, normally quarterly accross the year. This may differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you need to check as sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds.

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Lease Extensions in Atherton