I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Rise Park. Before diving in I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and most are in Rise Park - 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 looking at a two maisonettes in Rise Park which have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Rise Park. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I work for a busy estate agency in Rise Park where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Rise Park conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. 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 prior to, or simultaneously with 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Rise Park from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Rise Park can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Rise Park leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Where you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a new share certificate can be a lengthy process and slows down many a Rise Park conveyancing deal. If a duplicate share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is below 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £ 400000 flat in Rise Park in six days. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Rise Park?

Rise Park conveyancing on leasehold apartments often requires the purchaser’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They are entitled levy a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

My wife and I have hit a brick wall in seeking a lease extension in Rise Park. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Rise Park premises is Flat b 14 Kemble Road in May 2014. The Tribunal assessed the value of the premium payable for the lease extension to be £9,761 This case was in relation to 1 flat.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Rise Park - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

What is the yearly service fee and ground rent? Where a Rise Park lease has no more than 80 years it will affect the marketability of the property. Check with your bank that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. For most Rise Parklease extensions you would need to own the premises for two years before you are eligible to extend the lease. In the main the outlay for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Rise Park obliged tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger works.