Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years left on my lease in Knutsford. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Knutsford.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Knutsford both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Knutsford. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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. It is an essential part 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).

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Knutsford conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Knutsford conveyancing firm) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Knutsford conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be useful:

• Can they put you in touch with client in Knutsford who can give a testimonial?

What are the charges for lease extension work?

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £250000 maisonette in Knutsford next Tuesday . The freeholder has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Knutsford?

Knutsford conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes ordinarily results in administration charges raised by managing agents :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Knutsford
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Knutsford leasehold premises is £350. For Knutsford 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 obliged to provide answers.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Knutsford - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments? How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the apartment? The majority of Knutsford leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced by the landlord. If you buy the apartment you will have to pay this contribution, normally periodically throughout the year. This can be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it could be prohibitively expensive.

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Lease Extensions in Knutsford