There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Rednal. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Rednal.

I have just started marketing my ground floor apartment in Rednal.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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 looking at a two apartments in Rednal both have about fifty years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Rednal is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the premises. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than 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 premises 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 Rednal 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Rednal with the aim of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Rednal can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Rednal charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Rednal.

Are there common problems that you encounter in leases for Rednal properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Rednal. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Nationwide Building Society, Virgin Money, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Rednal - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

For most Rednal leaseholds the outlay for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Rednal ask tenants to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for larger repairs or maintenance. If a Rednal lease has less than 80 years it will affect the marketability of the property. Check with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. For most Rednallease extensions you would need to own the premises for a couple of years before you are legally able to carry out a lease extension. Most Rednal leasehold properties will incur a service charge for maintenance of the building levied by the landlord. Should you purchase the apartment you will have to pay this charge, normally quarterly during the year. This can vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds.

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Lease Extensions in Rednal