I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in North End. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in North End - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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 am intending to let out my leasehold apartment in North End. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Even though your last North End conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must obtain permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

Expecting to exchange soon on a leasehold property in North End. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease include a right of way over an accessway or hallways?

I've recently bought a leasehold property in North End. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to 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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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 work for a long established estate agency in North End where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local North End conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 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 at the same time as 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.

I inherited a ground-floor 1950’s flat in North End. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium due for a lease extension?

if there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to calculate the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a North End premises is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case related to 13 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 76 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in North End