Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Melbourn:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Melbourn, you will need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Halifax, Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley be sure to choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a Melbourn conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Top Five Questions relating to Melbourn leasehold conveyancing

There are only Sixty One years left on my lease in Melbourn. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Melbourn.

I've found a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just discovered that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Melbourn. Conveyancing lawyers have are soon to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Melbourn ?

The majority of houses in Melbourn are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Melbourn so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Melbourn conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is located on an estate. Your conveyancer should appraise you on the various issues.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Melbourn. 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. 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 reputable estate agent office in Melbourn where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Melbourn conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process 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 proposed purchaser need not have 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 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Melbourn with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Melbourn can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
  • The majority landlords or Management Companies in Melbourn levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Melbourn.
  • Some Melbourn leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 buyers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Melbourn home move. If a duplicate share is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

    • Leasehold Conveyancing in Melbourn - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

      Where a Melbourn lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the property. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the premises for a couple of years before you are legally able to carry out a lease extension. How much is the ground rent and service charge? Can you tell me if there are any major works in the planning that could add a premium to the maintenance charges?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Melbourn