I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Burnham On Crouch. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Burnham On Crouch - 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.

Back In 2002, I bought a leasehold house in Burnham On Crouch. Conveyancing and Chelsea Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Burnham On Crouch who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Burnham On Crouch conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Burnham On Crouch. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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. 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 ensure 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).

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 475000 flat in Burnham On Crouch on Tuesday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Burnham On Crouch?

Burnham On Crouch conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times results in administration charges levied by freeholders :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Burnham On Crouch
• 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 Burnham On Crouch leasehold property is £350. For Burnham On Crouch 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 required to supply answers.

What are the frequently found deficiencies that you see in leases for Burnham On Crouch properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Burnham On Crouch is not unique. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• 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

You will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Lloyds TSB Bank, Virgin Money, and Alliance & Leicester all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Burnham On Crouch Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

Is anyone aware of any major works in the planning that will likely increase the maintenance fees? Please note that where the lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are happy with residual term of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. For most Burnham On Crouchlease extensions you would be required to have owned the property for two years in order to be entitled to exercise a lease extension. Generally speaking the outlay for major works tend not to be incorporated into the maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Burnham On Crouch require tenants to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger works.