Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Great Baddow:

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Examples of recent questions relating to leasehold conveyancing in Great Baddow

I want to rent out my leasehold flat in Great Baddow. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Your lease governs relations between the landlord and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Great Baddow do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the property. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Great Baddow. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

If 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Great Baddow.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Great Baddow. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation 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. However, 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 a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Great Baddow where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Great Baddow conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Great Baddow from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Great Baddow can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers representatives.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in Great Baddow levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Great Baddow.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Great Baddow state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Great Baddow home move. Where a duplicate share is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

    • I am the registered owner of a studio flat in Great Baddow, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Great Baddow with over 90 years remaining are worth £170,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2078

    With 55 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £28,500 and £33,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Great Baddow