Leasehold Conveyancing in Blackwood - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Blackwood, you will need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Halifax, Yorkshire Building Society or Nationwide make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Sample questions relating to Blackwood leasehold conveyancing

I only have 62 years left on my lease in Blackwood. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application 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. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Blackwood.

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold flat in Blackwood. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Blackwood who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Blackwood conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Blackwood where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Blackwood conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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 provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Blackwood from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Blackwood can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers representatives.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Blackwood charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Blackwood.
  • Some Blackwood leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and frustrates many a Blackwood home move. If a new share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

    • When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Blackwood what are the most frequent lease problems?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Blackwood. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
    • A duty to insure the building
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, The Mortgage Works, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express requirements 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, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

    I am the registered owner of a 1st floor flat in Blackwood, conveyancing formalities finalised 1996. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Corresponding properties in Blackwood with over 90 years remaining are worth £245,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2080

    With only 55 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £27,600 and £31,800 as well as legals.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Blackwood