I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Huyton. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

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

Harry (my fiance) and I may need to sub-let our Huyton garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Huyton conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Huyton conveyancing lawyer is not around you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without prior permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

There are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Huyton. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. For most situations a specialist would be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Huyton.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Huyton where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Huyton conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer 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 has to be done prior to, 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Huyton with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Huyton can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Huyton levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Huyton.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Huyton state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such works. If you dont have the paperwork in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay 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 purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Huyton conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Huyton - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Most Huyton leasehold flats will have a service charge for maintenance of the block set by the management company. Where you purchase the apartment you will have to pay this contribution, usually periodically during the year. This can differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a large amount, say around £50-£100 but you should to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds.