Leasehold Conveyancing in Cottenham - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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Leasehold conveyancing in Cottenham is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Cottenham and next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Common questions relating to Cottenham leasehold conveyancing

I wish to rent out my leasehold flat in Cottenham. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

Notwithstanding that your previous Cottenham conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Cottenham. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Cottenham who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Cottenham conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Cottenham. 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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Cottenham from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cottenham can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Cottenham leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such works. If you fail to have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
  • Some Cottenham leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. 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 solicitors.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and frustrates many a Cottenham home move. Where a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • Are there frequently found defects that you come across in leases for Cottenham properties?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Cottenham. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Yorkshire Building Society, Bank of Scotland, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

    Cottenham Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

      You should be aware if it is no more than 80 years it will affect the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are happy with residual term of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this would cost. For most Cottenhamlease extensions you will be required to have owned the property for 24 months before you are entitled to extend the lease. The answer will be helpful as a) areas can cause problems in the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will want to know about it Best to be warned if fixing the lift or some other significant cost is pending to be shared between the tenants and may well materially increase the the service fees or result in a specific payment.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Cottenham