Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Chesterton:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Chesterton, you will need to chose a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Clydesdale , Birmingham Midshires or Nationwide be sure to choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a Chesterton conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Sample questions relating to Chesterton leasehold conveyancing

I have recently realised that I have Seventy years left on my flat in Chesterton. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Chesterton.

What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Chesterton conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Chesterton conveyancing practice) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Chesterton conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

  • How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
  • What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in Chesterton in the last twenty four months?

    • Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Chesterton with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Chesterton can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
    • Some Chesterton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Chesterton conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • Completion in due on the disposal of our £475000 flat in Chesterton next week. The managing agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Chesterton?

    Chesterton conveyancing on leasehold apartments more often than not necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to assist. They are entitled invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is above £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

    What makes a Chesterton lease problematic?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Chesterton. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain sections are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
    • A duty to insure the building
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    You could encounter 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 Royal Bank of Scotland, and Nottingham Building Society 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, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

    I acquired a garden flat in Chesterton, conveyancing was carried out 1999. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Chesterton with a long lease are worth £200,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2076

    With only 51 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £36,100 and £41,800 as well as costs.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Chesterton