Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Hanham. Before diving in I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Hanham - 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 have recently realised that I have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Hanham. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Hanham.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in Hanham. Conveyancing and Barclays Direct mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Hanham who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Hanham conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

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

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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part 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 work for a busy estate agency in Hanham where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Hanham conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Hanham Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

For most Hanham leaseholds the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, although a few managing agents in Hanham ask leasehold owners to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. How is the lease structured? The best form of lease arrangement is where the freehold interest is owned by the leaseholders. In this arrangement the tenants benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is usually retained if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Hanham