Planning to exchange soon on a basement flat in Buxton. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Setting out your legal entitlements in relation to the communal areas in the block.E.G., does the lease permit a right of way over a path or hallways?
• Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

I own a leasehold house in Buxton. Conveyancing and Virgin Money mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Buxton who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Buxton conveyancing practitioner 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.

I work for a busy estate agency in Buxton where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Buxton conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 advice for leasehold conveyancing in Buxton from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Buxton can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Buxton levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Buxton.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Buxton leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. If you fail to have the consents to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.
• Some Buxton leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Buxton home move. Where a new share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Buxton what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Buxton. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• Insurance obligations
• 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 problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Skipton Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Buxton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

This question is helpful as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will want to have full disclosure Where a Buxton lease has less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the property. Check with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the premises for two years in order to be legally able to extend the lease.