I am attracted to a couple of flats in Bellingham which have approximately forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Bellingham. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Bellingham. 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 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 am employed by a reputable estate agency in Bellingham where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Bellingham conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed 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 buyer.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £200000 apartment in Bellingham in 5 days. The freeholder has quoted £312 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Bellingham?

Bellingham conveyancing on leasehold apartments often requires the buyer’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be content to do so. They may charge a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have little choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

I am the registered owner of a first flat in Bellingham. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount payable for a lease extension?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Bellingham conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Bellingham flat is 75 Woolstone Road in February 2012. the decision of the Tribunal was that the appropriate amount to be paid to purchase the freehold was the sum of £17,711 . This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 68.28 and 158.

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

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

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements 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 issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Bellingham