Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Longford:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Longford, you will need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Halifax, Birmingham Midshires or Bradford & Bingley make sure you find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Questions and Answers: Longford leasehold conveyancing

I only have 68 years left on my lease in Longford. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Longford.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Longford. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Longford should include some of the following:

  • How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • The physical extent of the property. This will be the flat itself but could also incorporate a roof space or basement if applicable.
  • Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
  • You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Longford please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Longford

    • My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Longford. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Longford who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

    The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Longford conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. 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 a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Longford where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Longford conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

    As long as the seller has been the owner 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. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

    Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

    Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Longford with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Longford can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
    • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Longford state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
  • Some Longford leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a lengthy formality and delays many a Longford home move. If a duplicate share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

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

    Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Longford conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Longford residence is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 69 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Longford