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

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Top Five Questions relating to Blandfordum leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Blandfordum. Before diving in I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Blandfordum - 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.

I wish to sublet my leasehold apartment in Blandfordum. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your previous Blandfordum conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek consent via your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without first obtaining permission. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I own a leasehold house in Blandfordum. Conveyancing and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Blandfordum who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First contact HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Blandfordum 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 freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Blandfordum where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Blandfordum conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Blandfordum with the intention of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Blandfordum can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Blandfordum state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Where you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
  • Some Blandfordum 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 obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is ongoing. 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 ahead of 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 better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • Blandfordum Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

      Plenty Blandfordum leasehold properties will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block set by the freeholder. Should you acquire the property you will have to meet this liability, usually in instalments accross the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, normally this is not a significant amount, say around £50-£100 but you need to check as sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. Be sure to enquire if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. For instance it is fairly common in Blandfordum leases that pets are not permitted in in a block in Blandfordum. If you love the apartmentin Blandfordum however your dog is not allowed to move with you then you have a very hard determination. Please tell me if there are any major works in the planning that will increase the service fees?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Blandfordum