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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Bawtry, you will need to chose a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Santander, Birmingham Midshires or NatWest make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a Bawtry conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Common questions relating to Bawtry leasehold conveyancing

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Bawtry. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Bawtry 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
  • Are pets allowed in the flat?
  • You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • 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
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Bawtry please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Bawtry

    • I’m about to sell my garden apartment in Bawtry.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

    It best that you clear the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

    I work for a long established estate agent office in Bawtry where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Bawtry conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start 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 commence 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 has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

    Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bawtry with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bawtry can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
    • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Bawtry charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack 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 common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Bawtry.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Bawtry state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. Where you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer before hand.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Bawtry conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £125000 garden flat in Bawtry in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Bawtry?

    Bawtry conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries most will be content to do so. They are at liberty charge a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is in excess of £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

    I am the registered owner of a studio flat in Bawtry, conveyancing having been completed 5 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar properties in Bawtry with an extended lease are worth £254,000. The ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2083

    With only 57 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £27,600 and £31,800 as well as professional fees.

    The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Bawtry