I only have 62 years remaining on my lease in Hyde. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Hyde.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Hyde. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Hyde who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Hyde conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. You should note 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 Hyde which have approximately 50 years remaining on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Hyde. The lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hyde from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hyde can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Hyde levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hyde.
• A minority of Hyde leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may have to bite the bullet and 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 prior to 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 clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Hyde home move. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £ 225000 flat in Hyde in seven days. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Hyde?

Hyde conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not involves the purchaser’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions the majority will be willing to assist. They are entitled charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it exceeds £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Hyde Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

Are there any major works anticipated that will add a premium to the maintenance costs? The majority of Hyde leasehold apartments will have a service bill for maintenance of the building invoiced by the landlord. If you purchase the flat you will have to pay this contribution, usually periodically during the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, normally this is not a exorbitant sum, say about £50-£100 but you should to check as on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. The answer will be helpful as a) areas may cause problems for the block as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if maintenance are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the managing agents you will need to know about it