Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Neston. 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 an order 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 have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Neston.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Neston.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the invoice 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 until 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Neston conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Neston conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Neston conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?

What are the charges for lease extension conveyancing?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Neston with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Neston can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Neston levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Neston.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Neston state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder 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 concerned 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 resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of 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 reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £400000 apartment in Neston in 8 days. The freeholder has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Neston?

Neston conveyancing on leasehold flats normally necessitates fees being raised by management companies :

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Neston
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Neston leasehold property is £350. For Neston 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 required to supply answers.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Neston - A selection of Questions you should ask before buying

How many years remain on the lease? How much is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent? Best to be warned whether fixing the lift or some other significant cost is coming up to be shared by the leaseholders and could well materially increase the the maintenance charges or necessitate a specific payment.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Neston