Leasehold Conveyancing in Grangetown - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown, you will need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Halifax, Birmingham Midshires or Bradford & Bingley be sure to find a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Sample questions relating to Grangetown leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Grangetown - 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.

I’m about to sell my ground floor flat in Grangetown.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the service charge 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Grangetown. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 am employed by a long established estate agent office in Grangetown where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Grangetown conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 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 at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
  • Many landlords or managing agents in Grangetown charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Grangetown leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor before hand.
  • Some Grangetown leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay 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 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

    • I invested in buying a 1st floor flat in Grangetown, conveyancing was carried out 1998. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar flats in Grangetown with a long lease are worth £189,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2083

    With 61 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £20,000 and £23,000 as well as professional fees.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Grangetown