Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Macclesfield. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Macclesfield - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

I own a leasehold flat in Macclesfield. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Macclesfield who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

First contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Macclesfield conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

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

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. 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 am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Macclesfield where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Macclesfield conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 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 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 purchaser.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £300000 apartment in Macclesfield in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Macclesfield?

Macclesfield conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually necessitates fees being invoiced by freeholders :

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Macclesfield
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Macclesfield leasehold property is £350. For Macclesfield conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Macclesfield - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Make sure you investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. By way of example some leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Macclesfield. If you like the flatin Macclesfield but your dog is not allowed to move with you then you will be presented with a hard compromise. Where a Macclesfield lease has fewer than eighty years it will affect the salability of the property. Check with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth finding out what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for a couple of years in order to be legally able to extend the lease. For most Macclesfield leaseholds the cost for major works tend not to be included within service charges, although there some managing agents in Macclesfield obliged leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Macclesfield