My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Bideford. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Bideford who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Bideford 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 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Bideford where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Bideford conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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 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 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 simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Bideford conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Bideford conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Bideford conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?
• How many lease extensions has the firm conducted in Bideford in the last twenty four months?

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £ 325000 maisonette in Bideford on Thursday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Bideford?

Bideford conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times involves administration charges invoiced by managing agents :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Bideford
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Bideford leasehold premises is £350. For Bideford 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 obliged to provide answers.

What makes a Bideford lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Bideford. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, Coventry Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

I own a 1 bedroom flat in Bideford, conveyancing having been completed in 2004. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Bideford with a long lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £60 invoiced every year. The lease expires on 21st October 2096

With just 70 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.