I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Penryn. Before diving in I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Penryn - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Jane (my partner) and I may need to let out our Penryn basement flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Penryn conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Penryn conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you must obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Penryn where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Penryn conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £350000 garden flat in Penryn on Friday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Penryn?

Penryn conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually necessitates the buyer’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address such questions the majority will be content to do so. They are entitled levy a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration fees, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Penryn what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Penryn is not unique. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Coventry Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Penryn - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

In the main the cost for major works tend not to be built into the service charges, although there some managing agents in Penryn obliged leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance. Is there a share of the freehold? The answer will be helpful as a) areas may cause problems for the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will need to have all the details

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Penryn