I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Farnham Common. Before I get started I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Farnham Common - 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.

There are only Seventy years left on my flat in Farnham Common. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Farnham Common.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Farnham Common. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Farnham Common should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I’m about to sell my basement apartment in Farnham Common.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you clear 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.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Farnham Common which have about 50 years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Farnham Common is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property 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 property 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 Farnham Common conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. 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.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Farnham Common - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Please note that where the lease has less than eighty years it will affect the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this will be. For most Farnham Commonlease extensions you would need to own the premises for a couple of years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension. Does the lease have onerous restrictions? Best to be warned if window replacement or some other significant cost is pending to be shared amongst the leasehold owners and may well dramatically increase the the service fees or result in a one time payment.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Farnham Common