Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Church End:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Church End, you will need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Santander, Yorkshire Building Society or Nationwide make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a Church End conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Church End leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Due to complete next month on a leasehold property in Church End. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Church End should include some of the following:

  • The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • The total extent of the property. This will be the apartment itself but might incorporate a loft or cellar if applicable.
  • Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or having a home office for business
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Church End please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Church End

    • I’m about to sell my garden apartment in Church End.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

    The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until 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.

    Back In 2007, I bought a leasehold flat in Church End. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Church End who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

    First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Church End conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Church End. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

    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. Strange as it may seem, 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).

    Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Church End from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Church End can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
    • The majority landlords or managing agents in Church End charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for 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 usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Church End.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Church End leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Should you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
  • Some Church End leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Church End conveyancing deal. Where a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • Following years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Church End. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Church End conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Church End premises is Flat 1 30 Ennismore Avenue in September 2010. the Tribunal adopted and arrived at a premium for the lease extension of £29, 900 This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 68.34 years.