I have just started marketing my garden apartment in Ouston.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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.

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to meet my requirements, at a reasonable price which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently found out that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues purchasing a leasehold house in Ouston. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Ouston are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in Ouston in which case you should be shopping around for a Ouston conveyancing practitioner and check that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions such as obtaining the landlord’spermission to conduct changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your conveyancer will appraise you on the various issues.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Ouston where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Ouston conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as 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 buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Ouston with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ouston can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• A minority of Ouston leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder 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 unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge 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 will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Ouston home move. Where a reissued share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £150000 apartment in Ouston next week. The management company has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Ouston?

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

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Ouston
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Ouston leasehold premises is £350. For Ouston 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 provide the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Ouston - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

What restrictions are contained in the Ouston Lease? How is the lease structured? Plenty Ouston leasehold apartments will have a service bill for the upkeep of the block invoiced by the freeholder. Where you purchase the property you will have to pay this charge, normally quarterly accross the year. This can differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a large amount, say around £25-£75 but you should to check it because occasionally it could be prohibitively expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Ouston