Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Plasmarl:

Get a Quote

Whether you are buying or selling leasehold flat in Plasmarl, our panel of leasehold conveyancing experts will help you move with as little stress as possible. Find a Plasmarl conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Top Five Questions relating to Plasmarl leasehold conveyancing

Helen (my wife) and I may need to let out our Plasmarl basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Plasmarl conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Plasmarl conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent via your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

There are only Fifty years remaining on my lease in Plasmarl. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Plasmarl.

Due to exchange soon on a basement flat in Plasmarl. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the block.For example, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or staircase?
  • 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
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Plasmarl please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Plasmarl

    • Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Plasmarl with the aim of expediting the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Plasmarl can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
    • Many freeholders or managing agents in Plasmarl levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Plasmarl.
  • Some Plasmarl leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual 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 there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay 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 are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Plasmarl conveyancing transaction. Where a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • We expect to complete the disposal of our £125000 apartment in Plasmarl next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Plasmarl?

    Plasmarl conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually requires the purchaser’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They are entitled invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is above £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

    Plasmarl Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

      The answer will be helpful as a) areas can result in problems for the block as the common areas may start to deteriorate if maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the managing agents you will wish to know about it Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? Most Plasmarl leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the block invoiced by the landlord. Should you acquire the flat you will have to meet this liability, normally quarterly during the year. This can vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met yearly, this is usually not a large amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to check it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Plasmarl