Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Crediton. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. On the whole a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Crediton.

Looking forward to complete next month on a leasehold property in Crediton. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

I’m about to sell my ground floor flat in Crediton.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you pay the service charge 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I own a leasehold house in Crediton. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Crediton who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Crediton conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Crediton where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Crediton conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done 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.

Crediton Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

How much is the ground rent and service charge? Make sure you enquire if the the lease contains any adverse restrictions in the lease. For instance it is very common in Crediton leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Crediton. If you love the propertyin Crediton however your cat can’t make the move with you then you will be presented with a difficult choice. Where a Crediton lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for 24 months in order to be eligible to extend the lease.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Crediton