Recently asked questions relating to Thornton Heath leasehold conveyancing
I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my flat in Thornton Heath. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?
On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Thornton Heath.
Planning to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Thornton Heath. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Thornton Heath should include some of the following:
- You should be sent a copy of the lease
I own a leasehold house in Thornton Heath. Conveyancing and TSB mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Thornton Heath who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?
First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Thornton Heath conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I am attracted to a couple of flats in Thornton Heath which have about forty five years unexpired on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?
There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Thornton Heath is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the property. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Thornton Heath conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Thornton Heath. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?
In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 be sure 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 the leaseholder of a basement flat in Thornton Heath. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for the purchase of the freehold?
if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to decide the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Thornton Heath flat is Ground Floor Flat 14 Lodge Road in October 2013. the tribunal held that the price payable for the acquisition of the extended lease of the property should be £12,590 .00 This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 69.46 years.
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