Back In 2003, I bought a leasehold house in Hoole. 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 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Hoole who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Hoole conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. 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 am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in Hoole which have approximately forty five years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Hoole. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to 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. A critical element 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hoole with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hoole 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 needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Hoole state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer first.
• A minority of Hoole leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the yearly 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Hoole conveyancing transaction. Where a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

What makes a Hoole lease problematic?

Leasehold conveyancing in Hoole is not unique. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, Coventry Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Hoole Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying

If a Hoole lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. For most Hoolelease extensions you will be required to have been the owner of the property for 24 months in order to be eligible to carry out a lease extension.