Examples of recent questions relating to leasehold conveyancing in Chepstow
My husband and I may need to sub-let our Chepstow garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Chepstow conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?
Even though your previous Chepstow conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you must seek permission from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in Chepstow.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Chepstow. Do I have any liability for 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).
I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Chepstow where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Chepstow conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate 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 kick-start 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.
All being well we will complete the disposal of our £450000 flat in Chepstow next week. The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Chepstow?
For most leasehold sales in Chepstow conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :
- Addressing pre-exchange questions
- Where consent is required before sale in Chepstow
- Copies of the building insurance and schedule
- Deeds of covenant upon sale
- Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale
Chepstow Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before Purchasing
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Its a good idea to discover as much as you can regarding the managing agents as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day matters like the tidiness of the communal areas. Ask other tenants what they think of them. Finally, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and precisely what you get for your money.
Who manages the building?
Many Chepstow leasehold properties will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building levied by the landlord. If you buy the property you will have to meet this contribution, normally in instalments throughout the year. This can be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a significant figure, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to enquire as on occasion it could be prohibitively expensive.
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