Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Petworth. Before diving in I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Petworth - 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.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Petworth. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Setting out your rights in respect of the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease provide for a right of way over a path or staircase?

Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?

You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

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

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Petworth please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Petworth

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to tick a lot of boxes, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently found out that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a leasehold house in Petworth. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Petworth ?

Most houses in Petworth are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Petworth in which case you should be looking for a Petworth conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to conduct alterations. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor will advise you fully on all the issues.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Petworth where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Petworth conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. 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 has to be done 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.

We expect to complete the sale of our £125000 apartment in Petworth on Thursday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Petworth?

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

• Addressing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Petworth
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Petworth leasehold property is £350. For Petworth 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.

Petworth Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be included within service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Petworth require tenants to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for larger works. Most Petworth leasehold flats will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the freeholder. Should you acquire the property you will have to pay this charge, normally in instalments throughout the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to enquire as on occasion it could be many hundreds of pounds. This information is helpful as a) areas could cause problems in the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will need to know about it

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Petworth