My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Nantwich. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Nantwich who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Nantwich conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note 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 property in Nantwich. 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 work for a reputable estate agent office in Nantwich where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Nantwich conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

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 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 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.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Nantwich conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Nantwich conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Nantwich conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be useful:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
• If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Nantwich what are the most frequent lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Nantwich. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain sections are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Yorkshire Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd 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, obliging the buyer to pull out.

I bought a 1st floor flat in Nantwich, conveyancing was carried out 2010. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar properties in Nantwich with over 90 years remaining are worth £241,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2076

With only 50 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £33,300 and £38,400 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.