Bishopston leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s
Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Bishopston. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is registered - and most are in Bishopston - 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.
There are only 62 years unexpired on my flat in Bishopston. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?
If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Bishopston.
My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Bishopston. Conveyancing and Bank of Scotland mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Bishopston who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Bishopston conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Bishopston. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
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. 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 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).
We expect to complete the sale of our £250000 flat in Bishopston in just under a week. The management company has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Bishopston?
For the majority of leasehold sales in Bishopston conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :
- Answering pre-contract enquiries
- Where consent is required before sale in Bishopston
- Copies of the building insurance and schedule
- Deeds of covenant upon sale
- Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale
Leasehold Conveyancing in Bishopston - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing
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This information is useful as a) areas could result in problems for the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where services are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the running of the building you will wish to know about it
You will want to discover as much as you can concerning the company managing the building as they can either make life much easier or uncomfortable. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical matters like the tidiness of the common parts. Ask prospective neighbours what they think of them. Finally, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the appropriate party and precisely what it includes.
The majority of Bishopston leasehold apartments will have a service charge for maintenance of the block invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Where you acquire the property you will have to pay this charge, usually quarterly throughout the year. This may differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a significant figure, say about £25-£75 but you need to check as on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds.
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