I have just appointed agents to market my garden apartment in Beaufort.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you discharge the service charge 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 unless 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Beaufort. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Beaufort who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Beaufort conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line 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've recently bought a leasehold property in Beaufort. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Beaufort where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Beaufort conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 before, 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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Beaufort from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Beaufort can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Beaufort levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Beaufort.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Beaufort state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you dont have the paperwork in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
• Some Beaufort leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• 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 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 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 rather than unsettled.

I own a split level flat in Beaufort, conveyancing having been completed in 2009. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Beaufort with a long lease are worth £238,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2089

With just 63 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £16,200 and £18,600 plus costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.