Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years remaining on my lease in Birtley. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Birtley.

I've found a house that appears to be perfect, at a great price which is making it more attractive. I have since discovered that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Birtley. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Birtley are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Birtley so you should seriously consider looking for a Birtley conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a lessee you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer will report to you on the legal implications.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Birtley. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. However, 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Birtley from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Birtley can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Birtley charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Birtley.

A minority of Birtley leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents 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 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the sale of our £250000 apartment in Birtley in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Birtley?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Birtley conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Birtley
• 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 Birtley leasehold premises is £350. For Birtley 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.

Birtley Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

The best form of lease structure is where the freehold interest is owned by the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders benefit from being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Who is in charge of the block? Does the lease have in excess of 90 years unexpired?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Birtley