Expecting to complete next month on a studio apartment in Colwyn Bay. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I have just started marketing my ground floor apartment in Colwyn Bay.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

It best that you discharge the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am attracted to a two flats in Colwyn Bay both have about fifty years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Colwyn Bay is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the property. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. 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 property 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 Colwyn Bay 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 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 work for a busy estate agent office in Colwyn Bay where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Colwyn Bay conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 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 sale.

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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Colwyn Bay with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Colwyn Bay can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• A minority of Colwyn Bay leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 buyers or their lawyers.

Colwyn Bay Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the lessees benefit from control and even though a managing agent is often employed if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? Is anyone aware of any major works in the near future that will likely add a premium to the maintenance charges?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Colwyn Bay