Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Bingley

Get a Quote

Whether you are buying or selling leasehold flat in Bingley, our panel of leasehold conveyancing experts will help you move with as little stress as possible. Find a Bingley conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Bingley leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Bingley. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Bingley - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Bingley. Conveyancing and Coventry Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Bingley who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Bingley conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Bingley. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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 ensure 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).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bingley from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Bingley can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers solicitors.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Bingley leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.
  • A minority of Bingley leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, 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. Any 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage 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.

    • All being well we will complete the sale of our £400000 garden flat in Bingley next Wednesday . The landlords agents has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Bingley?

    Bingley conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually requires the buyer’s lawyer submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be content to assist. They are entitled levy a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

    Bingley Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

      Most Bingley leasehold properties will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the building set by the management company. If you acquire the property you will have to meet this amount, usually periodically accross the year. This could vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, ordinarily this is not a large amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds. Is the freehold owned collectively by the tenants? Be sure to discover if the the lease includes any unreasonable restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is reasonably common in Bingley leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Bingley. If you like the propertyin Bingley but your cat can’t live with you then you will be presented with a difficult compromise.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Bingley