Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years left on my lease in Crowthorne. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Crowthorne.

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Crowthorne both have approximately fifty years remaining on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Crowthorne from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Crowthorne can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Crowthorne leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. If you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.

A minority of Crowthorne leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Crowthorne home move. Where a duplicate share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £225000 apartment in Crowthorne next week. The freeholder has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Crowthorne?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Crowthorne conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Crowthorne
• 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 Crowthorne leasehold property is £350. For Crowthorne 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 the information.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Crowthorne what are the most frequent lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Crowthorne is not unique. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts 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

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Leeds Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Crowthorne Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

The answer will be important as a) areas could cause problems in the block as the common areas may start to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the running of the building you will wish to know about it It would be sensible to discover if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is very common in Crowthorne leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Crowthorne. If you love the apartmentin Crowthorne but your cat can’t make the move with you then you will be faced difficult decision. What restrictions are there in the Crowthorne Lease?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Crowthorne