Planning to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Longton. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in Longton.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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 am looking at a couple of flats in Longton which have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Longton. 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. However, 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 work for a long established estate agency in Longton where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Longton conveyancing firms. Could you clarify 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, 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 purchaser.

Longton Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

How long is the Lease? Be sure to investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example plenty of leases prohibit pets being permitted in certain buildings in Longton. If you love the flatin Longton but your cat is not allowed to live with you then you will be presented with a difficult choice. Please note if it is no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are happy with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the property for 24 months in order to be entitled to extend the lease.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Longton