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Questions and Answers: Groby leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Groby. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Groby - 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 only have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Groby. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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 Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Groby.

I have just started marketing my garden flat in Groby.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Groby. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

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).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Groby from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Groby can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Groby charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Groby.
  • Some Groby leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 solicitors.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • I own a garden flat in Groby, conveyancing was carried out 1995. 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 Groby with a long lease are worth £252,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2085

    You have 60 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £20,000 and £23,000 plus costs.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for extending 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 concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Groby