Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Great Sankey:

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Leasehold conveyancing in Great Sankey is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Great Sankey and throughout next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Great Sankey leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I am intending to rent out my leasehold apartment in Great Sankey. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Even though your previous Great Sankey conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to obtain consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Great Sankey. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Great Sankey.

I have just started marketing my ground floor apartment in Great Sankey.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Great Sankey. 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 lessee 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 be sure 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).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Great Sankey with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Great Sankey can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • A minority of Great Sankey leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual 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 solicitors.
  • If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unresolved. 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 present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Great Sankey conveyancing deal. Where a new share is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • Leasehold Conveyancing in Great Sankey - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

      How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? Is there a share of the freehold? How many years remain on the lease?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Great Sankey