Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Gurnard. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Gurnard should include some of the following:

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark

I am attracted to a two flats in Gurnard which have about 50 years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Gurnard is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. For most buyers and lenders, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Gurnard conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Gurnard. Am I liable to pay 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. However, 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).

I work for a busy estate agency in Gurnard where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Gurnard conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is 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 needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £475000 garden flat in Gurnard next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Gurnard?

Gurnard conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally necessitates the purchaser’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries most will be content to assist. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some situations it exceeds £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has no option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

Gurnard Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

Plenty Gurnard leasehold properties will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block levied by the management company. If you buy the flat you will have to pay this contribution, usually in instalments throughout the year. This may differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, normally this is not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to enquire as on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. Who takes charge for maintaining and repairing the block? Where a Gurnard lease has no more than eighty years it will impact the value of the apartment. Check with your mortgage company that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for 24 months before you are legally able to exercise a lease extension.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Gurnard