Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Eccles. Before diving in I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Eccles - 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years unexpired on my lease in Eccles. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Eccles.

I work for a busy estate agency in Eccles where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Eccles conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start 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 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Eccles with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Eccles can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Eccles leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you fail to have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer before hand.
• A minority of Eccles leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important 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.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Eccles what are the most common lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Eccles is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Lloyds TSB Bank, The Mortgage Works, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Eccles - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

Best to be warned if redecorating or some other major work is due in the near future to be shared between the tenants and will materially impact the level of the service fees or require a one off payment. Is anyone aware of any major works on the horizon that could increase the maintenance costs?