Due to complete next month on a leasehold property in Ivybridge. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Ivybridge should include some of the following:

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Ivybridge. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Ivybridge who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Ivybridge conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Ivybridge. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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 work for a long established estate agent office in Ivybridge where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Ivybridge conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £425000 garden flat in Ivybridge next week. The managing agents has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Ivybridge?

Ivybridge conveyancing on leasehold flats normally involves the buyer’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries the majority will be content to do so. They are at liberty invoice a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is above £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

Ivybridge Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Where a Ivybridge lease has less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to lend given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely require a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. 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. What restrictions are contained in the Ivybridge Lease? Plenty Ivybridge leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the block set by the freeholder. If you acquire the flat you will have to pay this charge, usually periodically accross the year. This may differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a significant amount, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire as occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Ivybridge