I only have 62 years remaining on my lease in Cardiff Bay. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist may be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Cardiff Bay.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Cardiff Bay. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Cardiff Bay should include some of the following:

• Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of common areas in the building.By way of example, does the lease provide for a right of way over an accessway or hallways?

Does the lease prevent you from subletting the flat, or working from home

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Repair and maintenance of the flat

What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Cardiff Bay please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Cardiff Bay

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Cardiff Bay. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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).

Completion in due on the sale of our £425000 garden flat in Cardiff Bay on Tuesday in a week. The management company has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Cardiff Bay?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Cardiff Bay conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Cardiff Bay
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Cardiff Bay leasehold property is £350. For Cardiff Bay 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 provide the information.

Are there frequently found deficiencies that you witness in leases for Cardiff Bay properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Cardiff Bay is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , The Mortgage Works, and Clydesdale all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Cardiff Bay - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

For most Cardiff Bay leaseholds the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that some managing agents in Cardiff Bay obliged tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. It is important to be aware if window replacement or some other major work is anticipated that will be shared between the leaseholders and will dramatically impact the level of the service charges or require a one time payment. The majority of Cardiff Bay leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the block levied on behalf of the freeholder. Where you buy the apartment you will have to meet this contribution, usually in instalments throughout the year. This may vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to check as occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Cardiff Bay