Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my flat in Ramsbottom. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. For most situations a specialist would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Ramsbottom.

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in Ramsbottom.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you clear the invoice 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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 am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two flats in Ramsbottom which have in the region of 50 years remaining on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Ramsbottom is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the premises. For most buyers and lenders, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. 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 premises 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 Ramsbottom 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Ramsbottom. 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. Strange as it may seem, 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).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Ramsbottom from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Ramsbottom can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Ramsbottom levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information 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 usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Ramsbottom.

Ramsbottom Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Are there any major works on the horizon that will likely increase the maintenance costs? Most Ramsbottom leasehold flats will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the building invoiced on behalf of the landlord. Should you acquire the property you will have to meet this amount, usually periodically during the year. This may be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a significant sum, say about £50-£100 but you should to check as occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds. If a Ramsbottom lease has fewer than 80 years it will affect the marketability of the flat. Check with your lender that they are happy with the length of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. For most Ramsbottomlease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the premises for 24 months in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension.

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Lease Extensions in Ramsbottom