I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Penryn. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Penryn should include some of the following:

• Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.For example, does the lease provide for a right of way over a path or hallways?

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Penryn please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Penryn

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Penryn. Do I have any liability for 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. It is an essential part 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 am employed by a long established estate agent office in Penryn where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Penryn conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start 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 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 wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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 buyer.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Penryn from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Penryn can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers lawyers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Penryn levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Penryn.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Penryn leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and 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 prior to 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 rather than ongoing.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £475000 garden flat in Penryn on Thursday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Penryn?

For most leasehold sales in Penryn 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 conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Penryn
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Penryn leasehold property is £350. For Penryn 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 obliged to provide answers.

Penryn Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

Who manages the block? Is anyone aware of any major works in the near future that will add a premium to the maintenance fees? How is the lease structured?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Penryn