Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Chipping Sodbury:

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Chipping Sodbury, you will need to appoint a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Santander, Birmingham Midshires or NatWest be sure to find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Chipping Sodbury leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Chipping Sodbury. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Chipping Sodbury - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Chipping Sodbury. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Chipping Sodbury ?

The majority of houses in Chipping Sodbury are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Chipping Sodbury in which case you should be looking for a Chipping Sodbury conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is located on an estate. Your solicitor should appraise you on the various issues.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Chipping Sodbury both have approximately forty five years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Chipping Sodbury is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Chipping Sodbury conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Chipping Sodbury where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Chipping Sodbury conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £150000 garden flat in Chipping Sodbury in seven days. The freeholder has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Chipping Sodbury?

Chipping Sodbury conveyancing on leasehold flats usually necessitates administration charges invoiced by freeholders :

  • Addressing pre-contract enquiries
  • Where consent is required before sale in Chipping Sodbury
  • Supplying insurance information
  • Deeds of covenant upon sale
  • Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale
Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Chipping Sodbury leasehold property is £350. For Chipping Sodbury 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 obliged to supply the information.

Chipping Sodbury Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

    How much is the ground rent and service charge? The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the tenants enjoy control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is usually employed if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. For most Chipping Sodbury leaseholds the cost for major works tend not to be built into the service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Chipping Sodbury require leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for larger works.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Chipping Sodbury