Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Cardigan:

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While any conveyancing practice can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Cardigan, your mortgage provider may unwilling to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Questions and Answers: Cardigan leasehold conveyancing

Jane (my partner) and I may need to let out our Cardigan basement flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Cardigan conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will set out if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Cardigan do not prevent strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

I have recently realised that I have 68 years left on my flat in Cardigan. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Cardigan.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Cardigan where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Cardigan conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Cardigan with the aim of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Cardigan can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Cardigan state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you dont have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.
  • Some Cardigan leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the yearly 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 buyers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Cardigan conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Cardigan what are the most frequent lease problems?

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

    • A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
    • Insurance obligations
    • 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

    A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Nationwide Building Society, Barnsley Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express 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 buyer to pull out.

    Leasehold Conveyancing in Cardigan - Examples of Queries before buying

      It would be prudent to find out if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For instance plenty of leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Cardigan. If you like the apartmentin Cardigan yet your dog can’t make the move with you then you have a very hard compromise. Its a good idea to find out as much as you can regarding the managing agents as they can either make your living at the property much simpler or a lot more difficult. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily issues like the tidiness of the communal areas. Enquire of prospective neighbours if they are happy with their service. In conclusion, be sure you discover the dates that the service charges are due to the managing agents and specifically what you get for your money. How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Cardigan