Questions and Answers: Kemp Town leasehold conveyancing
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Kemp Town. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Kemp Town - 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 let out our Kemp Town garden flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Kemp Town conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?
Even though your previous Kemp Town conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Kemp Town which have in the region of forty five years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?
A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area
I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Kemp Town where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Kemp Town conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as 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 proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
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 purchaser.
What makes a Kemp Town lease defective?
Leasehold conveyancing in Kemp Town is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:
- A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
- A duty to insure the building
- 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
A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Bank of Ireland all have express requirements 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.
Kemp Town Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before buying
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What prohibitions are there in the Kemp Town Lease?
How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments?
Plenty Kemp Town leasehold flats will have a service charge for maintenance of the block invoiced by the freeholder. Should you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this amount, normally in instalments during the year. This may differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say around £50-£100 but you need to check as sometimes it could be prohibitively expensive.
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