Due to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Cobham. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Cobham should include some of the following:

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the flat, or working from home

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Cobham please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Cobham

I am looking at a two apartments in Cobham both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Cobham. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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 be sure 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 Cobham where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Cobham conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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 purchaser.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £425000 garden flat in Cobham next week. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Cobham?

Cobham conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times necessitates administration charges levied by managing agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Cobham
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Cobham leasehold premises is £350. For Cobham 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 required to supply the information.

I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Cobham, conveyancing was carried out 10 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Cobham with over 90 years remaining are worth £201,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 2080

With 55 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £27,600 and £31,800 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Cobham