Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Blakenhall. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. 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 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).

I work for a busy estate agent office in Blakenhall where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Blakenhall conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 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 buyer.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Blakenhall conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Blakenhall conveyancing practice) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you talk with several firms including non Blakenhall conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

Can they put you in touch with client in Blakenhall who can give a testimonial?

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Blakenhall with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Blakenhall can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Blakenhall state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Where you dont have the consents in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Blakenhall conveyancing transaction. Where a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £350000 flat in Blakenhall in six days. The management company has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Blakenhall?

For most leasehold sales in Blakenhall 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-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Blakenhall
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Blakenhall leasehold premises is £350. For Blakenhall 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 the information.

Blakenhall Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Make sure you find out if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. By way of example it is very common in Blakenhall leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Blakenhall. If you like the apartmentin Blakenhall but your dog is not allowed to live with you then you have a very hard compromise. Where a Blakenhall lease has no more than eighty years it will impact the marketability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering what this will be. For most Blakenhalllease extensions you would need to own the property for two years before you are entitled to extend the lease. Does the lease have onerous restrictions?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Blakenhall