Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in North Cave:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in North Cave, you will need to chose a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Lloyds, RBS or NatWest be sure to choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Sample questions relating to North Cave leasehold conveyancing

I only have 72 years left on my lease in North Cave. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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 Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering North Cave.

I’m about to sell my garden apartment in North Cave.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you pay 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 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.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in North Cave where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local North Cave conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in North Cave with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in North Cave can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in North Cave levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in North Cave.
  • A minority of North Cave leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a North Cave home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

    • Are there common problems that you witness in leases for North Cave properties?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in North Cave. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are wrong. 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
    • 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 will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Nationwide Building Society, The Mortgage Works, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

    I own a garden flat in North Cave, conveyancing having been completed in 1997. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding flats in North Cave with over 90 years remaining are worth £265,000. The ground rent is £60 invoiced annually. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2079

    With 54 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £32,300 and £37,400 plus costs.

    The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered 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 getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in North Cave