Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Hillsborough. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Hillsborough - 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.

Planning to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Hillsborough. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Setting out your rights in relation to the communal areas in the block.For instance, does the lease permit a right of way over an accessway or hallways?

Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or having a home office for business

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Hillsborough please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Hillsborough

I work for a busy estate agency in Hillsborough where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Hillsborough conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start 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 sit tight for 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 buyer.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Hillsborough with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hillsborough can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Hillsborough charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hillsborough.

Some Hillsborough leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Hillsborough home move. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £150000 garden flat in Hillsborough on Friday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Hillsborough?

Hillsborough conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically involves administration charges raised by managing agents :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Hillsborough
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Hillsborough leasehold premises is £350. For Hillsborough conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide answers.

Hillsborough Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Plenty Hillsborough leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the building levied on behalf of the freeholder. Should you buy the flat you will have to pay this amount, usually quarterly throughout the year. This could differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. It would be prudent to discover if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. By way of example plenty of leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Hillsborough. If you love the flatin Hillsborough however your dog can’t live with you then you will be presented with a difficult determination. Is the freehold reversion owned jointly by the tenants?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Hillsborough