Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Chopwell:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Chopwell, you will need to chose a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Santander, RBS or Nationwide make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Chopwell leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently found out that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Chopwell. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Chopwell are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Chopwell in which case you should be shopping around for a Chopwell conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a lessee you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions for example obtaining the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your lawyer should report to you on the legal implications.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Chopwell which have in the region of fifty years remaining on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Chopwell is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and mortgage companies, 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 property 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 Chopwell 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 They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed 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've recently bought a leasehold property in Chopwell. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, 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 work for a busy estate agency in Chopwell where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Chopwell conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Chopwell from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Chopwell can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Chopwell charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Chopwell.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Chopwell state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.
  • 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 reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Chopwell home move. Where a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

    • I am the registered owner of a 1 bedroom flat in Chopwell, conveyancing was carried out in 2001. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Chopwell with an extended lease are worth £250,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2076

    You have 51 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £40,900 and £47,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

    The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. 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 should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Chopwell