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

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Henbury - 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 own a leasehold house in Henbury. Conveyancing and Barclays Direct mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Henbury who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Henbury conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website 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 house in Henbury. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to 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. 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).

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Henbury where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Henbury conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 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 buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Henbury from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Henbury can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• A minority of Henbury leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual 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 lawyers.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy formality and delays many a Henbury conveyancing transaction. If a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Henbury Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Its a good idea to find out as much as possible about the company managing the block as they can either make your life much simpler or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day matters like the cleanliness of the common parts. Ask other tenants if they are happy with their management. Finally, be sure you understand the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the appropriate party and specifically how they are spending the funds. Who is in charge of the block? The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders.