Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Hilton. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Hilton - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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 only have 62 years unexpired on my lease in Hilton. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Hilton.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor apartment in Hilton.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Hilton both have in the region of 50 years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Hilton is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property 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 Hilton conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend 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 the agreed 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.

What makes a Hilton lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Hilton. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Santander, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Hilton - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Plenty Hilton leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the building levied on behalf of the freeholder. If you buy the property you will have to meet this charge, normally periodically throughout the year. This can be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a significant amount, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire as occasionally it could be prohibitively expensive. You will want to discover as much as possible concerning the managing agents as they will either make living at the property much simpler or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily matters like the tidiness of the common parts. Enquire of prospective neighbours whether they are happy with them. Finally, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the managing agents and specifically what it includes. Make sure you investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example plenty of leases prohibit pets being allowed in in a block in Hilton. If you love the apartmentin Hilton however your dog can’t move with you then you will be presented with a hard decision.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Hilton