Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Rawcliffe:

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While any conveyancing practice can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Rawcliffe, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Top Five Questions relating to Rawcliffe leasehold conveyancing

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Rawcliffe. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

  • You should be sent 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
  • 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
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Rawcliffe please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Rawcliffe

    • I’m about to sell my ground floor flat in Rawcliffe.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a yearly service charge invoice – what should I do?

    Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

    I own a leasehold house in Rawcliffe. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Rawcliffe who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

    First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Rawcliffe conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    I am employed by a busy estate agency in Rawcliffe where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Rawcliffe conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

    As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. 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.

    All being well we will complete the disposal of our £225000 flat in Rawcliffe in 10 days. The management company has quoted £372 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 leasehold conveyance in Rawcliffe?

    Rawcliffe conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not necessitates the buyer’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be willing to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable charge 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 demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

    I am the registered owner of a 1st floor flat in Rawcliffe, conveyancing having been completed 1998. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding properties in Rawcliffe with an extended lease are worth £260,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease ends on 21st October 2091

    With only 68 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues 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 placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Rawcliffe