Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Belmont:

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While any conveyancing practice can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Belmont, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Questions and Answers: Belmont leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Belmont. Before I get started I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Belmont - 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.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have since discovered 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 Belmont. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Belmont are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Belmont so you should seriously consider looking for a Belmont conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the freeholder’sconsent to carry out alterations. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the house is located on an estate. Your conveyancer should appraise you on the various issues.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold flat in Belmont. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Belmont who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Belmont conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Belmont both have in the region of 50 years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Belmont is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. For most buyers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Belmont conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Belmont with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Belmont can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • Many landlords or managing agents in Belmont charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Belmont.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Belmont leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. If you dont have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Belmont conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • Having spent months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Belmont. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the amount due.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Belmont residence is 197 Byron Road in March 2013. In relation to the value of the extended lease the tribunal concluded that the appropriate premium should be £19237 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 70.92 years.