Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Cowbridge

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Any conveyancing practice can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Cowbridge, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Cowbridge leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I only have 72 years remaining on my lease in Cowbridge. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Cowbridge.

I own a leasehold flat in Cowbridge. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Cowbridge who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Cowbridge conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Cowbridge both have approximately fifty years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Cowbridge. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Cowbridge. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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 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).

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

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cowbridge can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • Many landlords or managing agents in Cowbridge levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cowbridge.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Cowbridge leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor before hand.
  • Some Cowbridge leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, 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 will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Cowbridge conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

    • I acquired a 2 bed flat in Cowbridge, conveyancing having been completed 10 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Cowbridge with over 90 years remaining are worth £207,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2075

    With 50 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £39,000 and £45,000 as well as legals.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Cowbridge