I am looking at a couple of apartments in Carmarthen both have approximately forty five years remaining on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Carmarthen. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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. However, 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).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Carmarthen from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Carmarthen can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Carmarthen levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Carmarthen.

If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Carmarthen leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.

A minority of Carmarthen 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 put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 purchasers or their solicitors.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Carmarthen conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £300000 apartment in Carmarthen on Friday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Carmarthen?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Carmarthen
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Carmarthen leasehold property is £350. For Carmarthen 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.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Carmarthen what are the most common lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Carmarthen is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. 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 property
• 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

You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. National Westminster Bank, The Mortgage Works, 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 does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Carmarthen Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

Make sure you discover if the the lease contains any unreasonable restrictions in the lease. For example it is very common in Carmarthen leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Carmarthen. If you love the flatin Carmarthen however your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced hard compromise. The majority of Carmarthen leasehold flats will have a service charge for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the freeholder. Where you buy the property you will have to pay this contribution, usually periodically accross the year. This can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to check it because on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Carmarthen