Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Rayleigh. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Rayleigh - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

There are only Seventy years left on my lease in Rayleigh. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Rayleigh.

I am attracted to a two flats in Rayleigh both have in the region of forty five years remaining on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Rayleigh is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. For most buyers and mortgage companies, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive 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 a residence 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 Rayleigh conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend 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.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Rayleigh where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Rayleigh conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 buyer.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £150000 flat in Rayleigh next Tuesday . The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Rayleigh?

Rayleigh conveyancing on leasehold apartments typically necessitates fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Rayleigh
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Rayleigh leasehold property is £350. For Rayleigh 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 obliged to provide the information.

Rayleigh Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before buying

Best to be warned whether a new roof is being put on or some other major work is due in the near future to be shared amongst the tenants and may well materially impact the level of the service fees or result in a one time invoice. The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. The majority of Rayleigh leasehold properties will have a service charge for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the management company. If you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this amount, usually periodically throughout the year. This could vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant amount, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Rayleigh