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Top Five Questions relating to Plymstock leasehold conveyancing

Expecting to exchange soon on a garden flat in Plymstock. Conveyancing lawyers have said 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 Plymstock should include some of the following:

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • 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.
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Plymstock please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Plymstock

  • Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Plymstock. Am I liable to pay 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. However, 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 be sure 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 work for a long established estate agency in Plymstock where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Plymstock 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having 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 at the same time as 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 purchaser.

    If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £325000 apartment in Plymstock on Monday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Plymstock?

    Plymstock conveyancing on leasehold flats often requires the buyer’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be willing to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

    What are the frequently found problems that you come across in leases for Plymstock properties?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Plymstock. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
    • 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 problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. National Westminster Bank, Virgin Money, and TSB all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

    Leasehold Conveyancing in Plymstock - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

      Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability? Please tell me if there are any major works in the near future that will likely add a premium to the maintenance costs? If a Plymstock lease has fewer than eighty years it will affect the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. For most Plymstocklease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the premises for 24 months in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Plymstock