My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Bexhill. Conveyancing and Virgin Money mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Bexhill who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Bexhill conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a two maisonettes in Bexhill which have approximately 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Bexhill is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Bexhill conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Bexhill where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Bexhill conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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. 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 needs to be completed before, 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Bexhill from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bexhill can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• Some Bexhill leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. 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 are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Bexhill conveyancing transaction. If a new share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £ 250000 apartment in Bexhill in 8 days. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Bexhill?

Bexhill conveyancing on leasehold flats ordinarily necessitates administration charges levied by landlords agents :

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Bexhill
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Bexhill leasehold premises is £350. For Bexhill 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.

I bought a split level flat in Bexhill, conveyancing formalities finalised 6 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Corresponding flats in Bexhill with over 90 years remaining are worth £167,000. The ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2089

With 63 years unexpired the likely cost is going to be between £16,200 and £18,600 plus professional fees.

The figure 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 detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.