Due to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Fenstanton. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord

Does the lease prevent you from subletting the property, or working from home

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide. For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Fenstanton please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Fenstanton

I own a leasehold flat in Fenstanton. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Fenstanton who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Fenstanton conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Fenstanton both have approximately 50 years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Fenstanton from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Fenstanton can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Fenstanton charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Fenstanton.

A minority of Fenstanton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.

If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £350000 maisonette in Fenstanton in just under a week. The management company has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Fenstanton?

Fenstanton conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically results in administration charges raised by managing agents :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Fenstanton
• 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 Fenstanton leasehold property is £350. For Fenstanton 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 required to supply the information.

I acquired a studio flat in Fenstanton, conveyancing having been completed 2008. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Fenstanton with over 90 years remaining are worth £166,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2100

With only 75 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Fenstanton