I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Guiseley. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Guiseley - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

Frank (my husband) and I may need to let out our Guiseley garden flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Guiseley conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Guiseley conveyancing lawyer is not around you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you must obtain consent from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in Guiseley.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Guiseley where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Guiseley conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

Are there frequently found deficiencies that you encounter in leases for Guiseley properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Guiseley is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Lloyds TSB Bank, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have very detailed conveyancing instructions 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 pull out.

Guiseley Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Is anyone aware of any major works anticipated that will likely add a premium to the maintenance charges? Best to be warned if redecorating or some other major work is pending to be shared between the leaseholders and may well dramatically increase the the maintenance costs or necessitate a specific invoice. Plenty Guiseley leasehold properties will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the building levied by the landlord. Where you purchase the property you will have to meet this liability, usually quarterly accross the year. This can vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, normally this is not a significant amount, say around £25-£75 but you should to check as on occasion it could be surprisingly expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Guiseley