Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Kingsbridge. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Kingsbridge - 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.

My husband and I may need to let out our Kingsbridge basement flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Kingsbridge conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Kingsbridge conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain consent from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have recently realised that I have 72 years unexpired on my lease in Kingsbridge. I need 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 submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Kingsbridge.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £125000 flat in Kingsbridge on Thursday in a week. The management company has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Kingsbridge?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Kingsbridge conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Kingsbridge
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Kingsbridge leasehold premises is £350. For Kingsbridge 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 required to provide answers.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Kingsbridge what are the most frequent lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Kingsbridge is not unique. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, The Mortgage Works, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

I own a 1st floor flat in Kingsbridge, conveyancing having been completed 9 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Kingsbridge with an extended lease are worth £217,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2083

With only 60 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £22,800 and £26,400 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Kingsbridge