Hadley Wood leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Hadley Wood. Before I get started I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Hadley Wood - 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 only have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Hadley Wood. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?
On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Hadley Wood.
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Hadley Wood both have about forty five years left on the lease term. should I be concerned?
A lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area
Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Hadley Wood. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?
In a situation 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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 long established estate agent office in Hadley Wood where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Hadley Wood conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
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.
Despite our best endeavours, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in Hadley Wood. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Hadley Wood conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Hadley Wood premises is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.
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