Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow:

Get a Quote

Require a conveyancing quote from a solicitor for leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow on your lender’s panel? Use our search tool to find leading local Dunmow conveyancing practitioners or national solicitors on your lender’s panel .

Questions and Answers: Dunmow leasehold conveyancing

Planning to complete next month on a studio apartment in Dunmow. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Dunmow please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Dunmow

    • I am looking at a couple of flats in Dunmow both have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

    There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Dunmow is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Dunmow conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

    I work for a busy estate agency in Dunmow where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Dunmow conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

    Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

    Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

    Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
    • Many freeholders or managing agents in Dunmow levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow.
  • Some Dunmow leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing 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 resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • 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 purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • Are there frequently found problems that you come across in leases for Dunmow properties?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
    • Insurance obligations
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    You will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. National Westminster Bank, 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 does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

    I invested in buying a ground floor flat in Dunmow, conveyancing was carried out 8 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Dunmow with a long lease are worth £175,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2089

    With just 68 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £13,300 and £15,400 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

    The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Dunmow