I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Horwich. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. It is an essential part 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 reputable estate agency in Horwich where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Horwich conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Horwich from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Horwich can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Horwich levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Horwich.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Horwich leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and delays many a Horwich conveyancing deal. Where a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £175000 apartment in Horwich in nine days. The freeholder has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Horwich?

For most leasehold sales in Horwich conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Horwich
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Horwich leasehold premises is £350. For Horwich 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 the information.

What makes a Horwich lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Horwich. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• 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

You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Bank of Ireland 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 defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Horwich - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Where a Horwich lease has no more than eighty years it will impact the marketability of the flat. Check with your bank that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have owned the residence for two years before you are eligible to carry out a lease extension. This information is helpful as a) areas can cause problems for the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will want to have all the details How much is the ground rent and service charge?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Horwich