There are only 62 years remaining on my flat in Porthcawl. I need 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 submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Porthcawl.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Porthcawl. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Porthcawl should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

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

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

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. For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Porthcawl please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Porthcawl

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Porthcawl with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Porthcawl can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Porthcawl charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Porthcawl.

Some Porthcawl leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Porthcawl conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

We expect to complete our sale of a £450000 apartment in Porthcawl in 10 days. The managing agents has quoted £348 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Porthcawl?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Porthcawl conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Porthcawl
• 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 Porthcawl leasehold premises is £350. For Porthcawl 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 supply the information.

What are the common defects that you see in leases for Porthcawl properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Porthcawl is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• 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 can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Barnsley Building Society, and Clydesdale all have very detailed requirements 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 grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

I am the registered owner of a 2 bed flat in Porthcawl, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar flats in Porthcawl with an extended lease are worth £234,000. The ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2088

You have 63 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £17,100 and £19,800 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Porthcawl