Planning to complete next month on a studio apartment in Macclesfield. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they report fully next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Defining your rights in respect of the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease grant a right of way over a path or staircase?
• Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
• You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Macclesfield.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Macclesfield. Conveyancing and Leeds Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Macclesfield who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Macclesfield conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Macclesfield. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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. It is an essential part 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 agent office in Macclesfield where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Macclesfield conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. 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 needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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 purchaser.

Macclesfield Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

In the main the cost for major works are not included within service charges, although a few managing agents in Macclesfield ask leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major works. Where a Macclesfield lease has fewer than 80 years it will impact the salability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have owned the property for a couple of years in order to be legally able to extend the lease.