There are only Fifty years remaining on my flat in Leyland. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If 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 lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Leyland.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in Leyland.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have since been informed that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Leyland. Conveyancing lawyers have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Leyland ?

The majority of houses in Leyland are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Leyland so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Leyland conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example obtaining the landlord’sconsent to carry out alterations. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer should appraise you on the various issues.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Leyland both have about forty five years remaining on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

What makes a Leyland lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Leyland. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain sections are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• 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

You may encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, Chelsea Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Leyland - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

If a Leyland lease has no more than 80 years it will impact the value of the flat. Check with your lender that they are happy with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably need a lease extension sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would be required to have owned the residence for 24 months before you are eligible to extend the lease. The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees have control and even though a managing agent is often retained if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. How is the lease structured?

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Lease Extensions in Leyland