I am hoping to complete next month on a studio apartment in Ellesmere Port. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

I’m about to sell my garden apartment in Ellesmere Port.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Back In 2007, I bought a leasehold house in Ellesmere Port. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Ellesmere Port who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Ellesmere Port conveyancing firm 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 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 flats in Ellesmere Port both have in the region of 50 years left on the lease term. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As the lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Ellesmere Port where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Ellesmere Port conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 sale.

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.

Ellesmere Port Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

This information is helpful as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the common areas may start to deteriorate where services remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the managing agents you will want to have complete disclosure Where a Ellesmere Port lease has fewer than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are content with residual term of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely 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 be required to have owned the residence for a couple of years in order to be legally able to carry out a lease extension. The prefered form of lease structure is where the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the tenants benefit from control and even though a managing agent is usually retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Ellesmere Port