I only have 68 years remaining on my flat in Middlewich. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, 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. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Middlewich.

I own a leasehold house in Middlewich. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Middlewich who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Middlewich conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Middlewich. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before 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. 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).

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Middlewich with the aim of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Middlewich can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• A minority of Middlewich leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly 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 any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Middlewich home move. Where a new share is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Middlewich what are the most common lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Middlewich. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, The Mortgage Works, and Nottingham Building Society all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Middlewich - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

This question is important as a) areas can cause problems in the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where services are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the managing agents you will wish to know about it How is the lease structured? It would be wise to discover as much as possible regarding the company managing the block as they will either make living at the property much simpler or uncomfortable. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are often at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day matters such as the cleanliness of the common parts. Ask other tenants what they think of them. In conclusion, find out the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the managing agents and specifically what it includes.