Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley

Get a Quote

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley, you will need to chose a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Lloyds, Yorkshire Building Society or NatWest be sure to choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a Burbage and Hinckley conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Recently asked questions relating to Burbage and Hinckley leasehold conveyancing

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Burbage and Hinckley - 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my flat in Burbage and Hinckley. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. On the whole a specialist would be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Burbage and Hinckley.

I am hoping to complete next month on a leasehold property in Burbage and Hinckley. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley should include some of the following:

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • The physical extent of the property. This will be the property itself but could also incorporate a loft or cellar if appropriate.
  • Does the lease prevent you from letting out the flat, or having a home office for business
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • Repair and maintenance of the flat
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Burbage and Hinckley please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley

    • I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Burbage and Hinckley where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Burbage and Hinckley conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence 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 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 wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, 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 buyer.

    Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
    • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Burbage and Hinckley levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Burbage and Hinckley.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Burbage and Hinckley conveyancing deal. If a new share is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • Burbage and Hinckley Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

      Are there any major works in the near future that will likely add a premium to the maintenance fees? If a Burbage and Hinckley lease has less than 80 years it will impact the salability of the property. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the property for two years in order to be eligible to extend the lease. The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the lessees have control and even though a managing agent is usually retained where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Burbage and Hinckley