Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Milton Keynes. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Milton Keynes - 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've recently bought a leasehold property in Milton Keynes. Am I liable to pay 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. 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 ensure 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 reputable estate agency in Milton Keynes where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Milton Keynes conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence 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 can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 finding a Milton Keynes conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Milton Keynes conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with two or three firms including non Milton Keynes conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be of use:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
• What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Milton Keynes what are the most frequent lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Milton Keynes is not unique. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain sections are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• 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 can cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. National Westminster Bank, The Mortgage Works, and Clydesdale all have very detailed 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 grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Milton Keynes Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Most Milton Keynes leasehold properties will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the building levied on behalf of the freeholder. Where you buy the property you will have to pay this contribution, normally in instalments throughout the year. This can be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. This question is helpful as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the common areas may start to deteriorate if repairs are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will want to have complete disclosure