There are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in Machen. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. On the whole a specialist may be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Machen.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Machen. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

The total extent of the demise. This will be the apartment itself but might incorporate a loft or basement if appropriate.

Whether the lease restricts you from renting out the flat, or working from home

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Machen please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Machen

I’m about to sell my garden flat in Machen.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Machen conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Machen conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Machen conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How experienced is the firm with lease extension legislation?

What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

Completion in due on our sale of a £275000 apartment in Machen on Monday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Machen?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Machen conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Machen
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Machen leasehold premises is £350. For Machen 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 provide answers.

Machen Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

It would be wise to discover if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. By way of example it is fairly common in Machen leases that pets are not allowed in in a block in Machen. If you like the apartmentin Machen yet your dog is not allowed to move with you then you will be faced hard determination. Most Machen leasehold properties will incur a service charge for maintenance of the building set by the landlord. Should you purchase the flat you will have to meet this amount, usually quarterly throughout the year. This can differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a significant amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to check it because occasionally it can be surprisingly expensive. You will want to find out as much as possible regarding the company managing the building as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day issues like the cleanliness of the communal areas. Enquire of prospective neighbours what they think of them. On a final note, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the managing agents and precisely how they are spending that money.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Machen