I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Ramsbottom. Before I get started I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Ramsbottom - 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 have just started marketing my ground floor apartment in Ramsbottom.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – 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 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Ramsbottom. Conveyancing and Yorkshire Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Ramsbottom who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Ramsbottom conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I work for a reputable estate agency in Ramsbottom where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Ramsbottom conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £ 250000 flat in Ramsbottom on Monday in a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Ramsbottom?

Ramsbottom conveyancing on leasehold flats normally involves the buyer’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address such questions most will be willing to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Ramsbottom Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Plenty Ramsbottom leasehold flats will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the freeholder. Should you acquire the apartment you will have to pay this amount, normally quarterly throughout the year. This may be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive. The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the lessees benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is usually employed where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Please note if it is less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the flat. Check with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for two years in order to be entitled to exercise a lease extension.