There are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Buckley. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Buckley.

I own a leasehold flat in Buckley. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Buckley who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

First contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Buckley conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Buckley both have approximately forty five years unexpired on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Buckley. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Buckley. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation 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. A critical element 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).

What makes a Buckley lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Buckley. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations 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.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , The Mortgage Works, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed 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, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Buckley Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

It would be sensible to investigate if the the lease contains any unreasonable restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is fairly common in Buckley leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Buckley. If you love the apartmentin Buckley yet your dog can’t live with you then you have a very hard determination. Is the freehold owned jointly by the leaseholders? Can you tell me if there are any major works in the planning that will increase the maintenance charges?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Buckley