I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Chipping Sodbury. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most 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.

Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our Chipping Sodbury garden flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Chipping Sodbury conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Chipping Sodbury do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.

There are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in Chipping Sodbury. I now want to extend my lease 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 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 extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Chipping Sodbury.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Chipping Sodbury. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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 employed by a long established estate agent office in Chipping Sodbury where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Chipping Sodbury conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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 can avoid having 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 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.

Chipping Sodbury Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

How much is the ground rent and service charge? Where a Chipping Sodbury lease has less than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the apartment. Check with your bank that they are happy with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would be be obliged to have owned the premises for 24 months before you are eligible to extend the lease. On the whole the cost for major works are not included within service charges, although a few managing agents in Chipping Sodbury require leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for larger repairs or maintenance.