Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Gamlingay

Get a Quote

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Gamlingay, you will need to chose a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Santander, Birmingham Midshires or NatWest make sure you find a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Gamlingay leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years left on my flat in Gamlingay. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Gamlingay.

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Gamlingay which have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Gamlingay where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Gamlingay conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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 needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Gamlingay from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Gamlingay can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
  • Many freeholders or managing agents in Gamlingay levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Gamlingay.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Gamlingay leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. If you fail to have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer before hand.
  • If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
  • 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 buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore essential 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 premises on the market for sale.

    • What makes a Gamlingay lease defective?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Gamlingay is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
    • A duty to insure the building
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Birmingham Midshires, Chelsea Building Society, and TSB all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

    Gamlingay Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying

      Its a good idea to find out as much as possible concerning the company managing the block as they will impact your use and enjoyment of the property. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day issues such as the tidiness of the communal areas. Enquire of prospective neighbours what they think of their service. In conclusion, be sure you understand the dates that the service fees are due to the managing agents and specifically how they are spending that money. What is the service charge and ground rent on the property? What prohibitions exist in the Gamlingay Lease?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Gamlingay