Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Barton Le Clay. Before I get started 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 almost all are in Barton Le Clay - 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 68 years left on my lease in Barton Le Clay. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

If 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 magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Barton Le Clay.

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold flat in Barton Le Clay. Conveyancing and HSBC Bank mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Barton Le Clay who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Barton Le Clay conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Barton Le Clay with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Barton Le Clay can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Barton Le Clay state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.
• Some Barton Le Clay leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Barton Le Clay home move. Where a duplicate share is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is below 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £ 500000 maisonette in Barton Le Clay next Friday . The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Barton Le Clay?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Barton Le Clay 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-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Barton Le Clay
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Barton Le Clay leasehold premises is £350. For Barton Le Clay 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.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Barton Le Clay - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Plenty Barton Le Clay leasehold apartments will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building set on behalf of the management company. If you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this liability, usually in instalments throughout the year. This can be anything 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, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant sum, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to check it because on occasion it could be surprisingly expensive.