My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Egremont. Conveyancing and Barclays mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Egremont who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Egremont conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Egremont which have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Egremont is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises 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 Egremont 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 They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Egremont conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Egremont conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Egremont conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be of use:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

What are the costs for lease extension work?

We expect to complete the disposal of our £200000 garden flat in Egremont on Friday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Egremont?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Egremont
• 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 Egremont leasehold premises is £350. For Egremont 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.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Egremont what are the most frequent lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Egremont is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are not included. 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 building
• A duty to insure the building
• 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 may have 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. HSBC Bank, Bank of Scotland, and TSB all have express conveyancing instructions 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, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

I purchased a leasehold flat in Egremont, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Egremont with over 90 years remaining are worth £263,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2102

With only 80 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £12,400 and £14,200 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Egremont