Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Eynsham. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and most are in Eynsham - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Eynsham. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation 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 be sure 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 long established estate agency in Eynsham where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Eynsham conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means 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 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.

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

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Eynsham can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Eynsham state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate is often a lengthy process and frustrates many a Eynsham home move. Where a new share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £475000 apartment in Eynsham next week. The management company has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Eynsham?

Eynsham conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally results in administration charges invoiced by landlords agents :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Eynsham
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Eynsham leasehold property is £350. For Eynsham 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 answers.

I bought a 1st floor flat in Eynsham, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Eynsham with an extended lease are worth £255,000. The ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease expires on 21st October 2101

You have 76 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £13,300 and £15,400 as well as professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Eynsham