Leasehold Conveyancing in Maryland - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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

Questions and Answers: Maryland leasehold conveyancing

I only have 72 years unexpired on my lease in Maryland. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Maryland.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Maryland. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?
  • You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Maryland please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Maryland

    • I own a leasehold house in Maryland. Conveyancing and National Westminster Bank mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Maryland 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 new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Maryland conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Maryland conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

    If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Maryland conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you speak with two or three firms including non Maryland conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

    • If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?
  • What are the costs for lease extension work?

    • Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Maryland from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Maryland can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
    • The majority landlords or Management Companies in Maryland levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Maryland.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Maryland state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
  • A minority of Maryland leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual 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 lawyers.
  • 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 marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

    • Having spent years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Maryland. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Maryland conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Maryland premises is 151A Ham Park Road in May 2010. The matter came before the Tribunal by way of a vesting order made on 12 June 2009 Deputy District Judge Coonan in Bow County Court. The tribunal decided that the sum payable for the m to be paid for the lease extension was £21,445 This case affected 1 flat.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Maryland