Top Five Questions relating to St Mary Cray leasehold conveyancing
Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in St Mary Cray. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in St Mary Cray - 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.
My wife and I may need to rent out our St Mary Cray basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a St Mary Cray conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?
The lease governs relations between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will say if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in St Mary Cray do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.
I’m about to sell my 2 bed flat in St Mary Cray.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly service charge invoice – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is clear 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 unless 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
I today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in St Mary Cray. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?
The majority of houses in St Mary Cray are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in St Mary Cray in which case you should be looking for a St Mary Cray conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example requiring the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your conveyancer will appraise you on the various issues.
I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in St Mary Cray where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local St Mary Cray conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the owner 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 proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
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 have given up trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in St Mary Cray. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a St Mary Cray conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a St Mary Cray property is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 50.57 years.
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