Due to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Portslade. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Does the lease prevent you from subletting the flat, or working from home

I’m about to sell my ground floor flat in Portslade.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Portslade. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Portslade where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Portslade conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

Completion in due on our sale of a £325000 maisonette in Portslade in six days. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Portslade?

Portslade conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not requires the purchaser’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries most will be content to do so. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has little option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to complete the sale of your home.

Portslade Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Where a Portslade lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will probably require a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you would be required to have been the owner of the property for 24 months in order to be entitled to exercise a lease extension. On the whole the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Portslade require leasehold owners to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major repairs or maintenance. Are there any major works in the near future that will likely add a premium to the maintenance costs?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Portslade