Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Mossley

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Any conveyancing practice can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Mossley, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Examples of recent questions relating to leasehold conveyancing in Mossley

There are only Fifty years remaining on my flat in Mossley. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

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 lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Mossley.

I own a leasehold house in Mossley. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Mossley who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Mossley conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Mossley. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to 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 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 long established estate agent office in Mossley where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Mossley conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. This means that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Mossley with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Mossley can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in Mossley charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Mossley.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Mossley leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such works. If you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better 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 hold the original share document. Obtaining a new share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Mossley conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

    • Leasehold Conveyancing in Mossley - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

      What prohibitions are there in the Mossley Lease? Many Mossley leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the freeholder. Where you purchase the property you will have to meet this contribution, normally periodically accross the year. This could differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, ordinarily this is not a large figure, say about £50-£100 but you need to enquire it because on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive. Generally speaking the outlay for major works tend not to be incorporated into the maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Mossley obliged tenants to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger repairs or maintenance.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Mossley