Leasehold Conveyancing in Plymouth - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Plymouth, you will need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Lloyds, RBS or Nationwide be sure to choose a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Common questions relating to Plymouth leasehold conveyancing

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Plymouth. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Plymouth - 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.

I only have 62 years left on my lease in Plymouth. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Plymouth.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Plymouth which have in the region of 50 years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Plymouth is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the property. The majority of buyers and banks, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Plymouth conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Plymouth with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Plymouth can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Plymouth state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you fail to have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer first.
  • Some Plymouth leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left 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 remaining number of years is below 75 years. In the circumstances it is important 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.

    • What makes a Plymouth lease unmortgageable?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Plymouth is not unique. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain sections are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Santander, Virgin Money, and Britannia all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

    Leasehold Conveyancing in Plymouth - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

      This question is important as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the managing agents you will need to know about it What is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent? Generally speaking the cost for major works are not built into the maintenance charges, albeit that some managing agents in Plymouth require leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major works.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Plymouth