Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Marple:

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Top Five Questions relating to Marple leasehold conveyancing

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Marple. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Marple - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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 am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Marple which have in the region of 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is advisable to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Marple. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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. Strange as it may seem, 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 busy estate agency in Marple where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Marple conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. 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 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Marple with the aim of expediting the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Marple can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Marple state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you fail to have the consents to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer first.
  • Some Marple leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and delays many a Marple conveyancing transaction. Where a new share is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

    • Marple Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

      Best to be warned whether window replacement or some other major work is due in the near future that will be shared by the tenants and will materially impact the level of the service charges or require a specific invoice. The prefered form of lease structure is where the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders enjoy control and even though a managing agent is often employed where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. It would be prudent to discover as much as possible concerning the managing agents as they can either make your life much easier or uncomfortable. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day issues like the tidiness of the communal areas. You should not be afraid to ask other tenants if they are happy with them. On a final note, be sure you discover the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and specifically what it includes.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Marple