I am hoping to complete next month on a garden flat in Ferndown. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
• The total extent of the property. This will be the apartment itself but could also incorporate a loft or basement if applicable.
• Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• 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.
• What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold house in Ferndown. Conveyancing and Lloyds TSB Bank mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Ferndown who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Ferndown conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Ferndown where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Ferndown conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 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.

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 Ferndown from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Ferndown can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Ferndown state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer before hand.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Ferndown conveyancing deal. Where a new share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

What makes a Ferndown lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Ferndown. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. National Westminster Bank, The Mortgage Works, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Ferndown Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

It would be sensible to investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example plenty of leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Ferndown. If you like the flatin Ferndown but your cat is not allowed to live with you then you will be presented with a hard decision. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability?