I only have Sixty One years left on my flat in Morriston. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Morriston.

Looking forward to complete next month on a leasehold property in Morriston. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Morriston please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Morriston

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Morriston.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £150000 apartment in Morriston on Tuesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Morriston?

For most leasehold sales in Morriston conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Morriston
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Morriston leasehold premises is £350. For Morriston conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide answers.

What makes a Morriston lease problematic?

Leasehold conveyancing in Morriston is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Barnsley Building Society, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Morriston Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

How much is the annual service fee and ground rent? Does the lease contain onerous restrictions? In the main the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that a few managing agents in Morriston require leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Morriston