Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Rednal:

Get a Quote

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Rednal, you will need to instruct a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Santander, Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley make sure you choose a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Sample questions relating to Rednal leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Rednal. Before diving in I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Rednal - 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 am intending to rent out my leasehold apartment in Rednal. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

A small minority of properties in Rednal do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Rednal. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to 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).

I work for a busy estate agent office in Rednal where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Rednal conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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 buyer.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Rednal with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Rednal can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • Many landlords or managing agents in Rednal levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack 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 cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Rednal.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Rednal state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. If you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer before hand.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • Leasehold Conveyancing in Rednal - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

      Please note if it is less than 80 years it will affect the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are happy with residual term of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth finding out what this would cost. For most Rednallease extensions you would be required to have owned the residence for 24 months in order to be eligible to carry out a lease extension. What prohibitions are there in the Rednal Lease? Who manages the block?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Rednal