Recently asked questions relating to Long Buckby leasehold conveyancing
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years unexpired on my lease in Long Buckby. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?
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 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 magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Long Buckby.
Expecting to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Long Buckby. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Long Buckby should include some of the following:
- Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Long Buckby. Conveyancing and National Westminster Bank mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Long Buckby who acted for me is not around.What should I do?
First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Long Buckby conveyancing solicitor 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 legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.
Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Long Buckby. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?
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. It is an essential part 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 work for a reputable estate agent office in Long Buckby where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Long Buckby conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
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. 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 needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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 own a 1 bedroom flat in Long Buckby, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar properties in Long Buckby with over 90 years remaining are worth £237,000. The ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2104
With only 79 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £8,600 and £9,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.
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