Leasehold Conveyancing in East Dean - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in East Dean, you will need to chose a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Lloyds, Birmingham Midshires or Bradford & Bingley make sure you find a lawyer on their panel. Find a East Dean conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Questions and Answers: East Dean leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in East Dean. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in East Dean - 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in East Dean. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in East Dean who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a East Dean conveyancing practitioner 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 rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I work for a busy estate agency in East Dean where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local East Dean conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in East Dean from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in East Dean can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in East Dean state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
  • If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a East Dean home move. Where a duplicate share is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • What makes a East Dean lease unmortgageable?

    Leasehold conveyancing in East Dean is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
    • 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

    You may encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, The Mortgage Works, and Alliance & Leicester 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 grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

    Leasehold Conveyancing in East Dean - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

      Where a East Dean lease has less than eighty years it will impact the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the property for a couple of years in order to be eligible to carry out a lease extension. The answer will be useful as a) areas could result in problems in the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate if repairs remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the managing agents you will need to have all the details The best form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the leaseholders benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently retained where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in East Dean