I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Eaglescliffe both have in the region of 50 years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Eaglescliffe is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. For most purchasers 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 premises 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 Eaglescliffe conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending 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 any new 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Eaglescliffe. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 ensure 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).

I work for a busy estate agent office in Eaglescliffe where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Eaglescliffe conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-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 wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Eaglescliffe with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Eaglescliffe can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Eaglescliffe state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Where you fail to have the approvals to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy formality and delays many a Eaglescliffe home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £275000 flat in Eaglescliffe on Friday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Eaglescliffe?

Eaglescliffe conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically results in fees being invoiced by landlords agents :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Eaglescliffe
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Eaglescliffe leasehold premises is £350. For Eaglescliffe 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 provide answers.

I purchased a ground floor flat in Eaglescliffe, conveyancing formalities finalised in 1995. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Eaglescliffe with over 90 years remaining are worth £183,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2080

With just 57 years left to run the likely cost is going to range between £26,600 and £30,800 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Eaglescliffe