Planning to exchange soon on a garden flat in Maidenbower. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Setting out your rights in respect of common areas in the block.E.G., does the lease grant a right of way over an accessway or staircase?

I own a leasehold house in Maidenbower. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in Maidenbower who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Maidenbower conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

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

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 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 am employed by a busy estate agent office in Maidenbower where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Maidenbower conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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. The benefit of this is 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.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Maidenbower conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Maidenbower conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Maidenbower conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

Maidenbower Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

This question is useful as a) areas could cause problems in the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the tenants have a dispute with the running of the building you will want to know about it Who are the managing agents? Many Maidenbower leasehold apartments will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the block levied by the management company. If you purchase the flat you will have to meet this amount, usually quarterly throughout the year. This may be anything from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, normally this is not a large amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to check as sometimes it can be prohibitively expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Maidenbower