I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Crewe. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Crewe - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I only have Sixty One years left on my lease in Crewe. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Crewe.

I own a leasehold flat in Crewe. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Crewe who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Crewe conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

We expect to complete our sale of a £425000 maisonette in Crewe in just under a week. The management company has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Crewe?

For most leasehold sales in Crewe conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Crewe
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Crewe leasehold premises is £350. For Crewe 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 obliged to supply answers.

What are the common deficiencies that you witness in leases for Crewe properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Crewe. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Bank of Scotland, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Crewe Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

You should want to find out as much as possible about the managing agents as they will either make your life much simpler or uncomfortable. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are often at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily matters such as the tidiness of the communal areas. You should not be shy to ask other people whether they are happy with their management. On a final note, find out the dates that the service charges are due to the managing agents and precisely what you get for your money. It is important to be aware whether changing the roof or some other major work is coming up to be shared between the leasehold owners and could well materially increase the the maintenance fees or necessitate a specific payment. This question is useful as a) areas could cause problems in the block as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if maintenance are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will wish to know about it

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Crewe