Looking forward to exchange soon on a basement flat in Hawarden. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I own a leasehold house in Hawarden. Conveyancing and Barclays mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Hawarden who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Hawarden conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Hawarden. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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. However, 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 reputable estate agency in Hawarden where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Hawarden conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 start 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 has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

What makes a Hawarden lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Hawarden. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain sections are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Accord Mortgages Ltd, The Mortgage Works, and TSB all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

I bought a 1st floor flat in Hawarden, conveyancing was carried out in 2007. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Hawarden with an extended lease are worth £180,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease ends on 21st October 2085

You have 59 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £24,700 and £28,600 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Hawarden