Questions and Answers: Rise Park leasehold conveyancing
I only have Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Rise Park. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?
If 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 or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Rise Park.
Due to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Rise Park. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?
The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Rise Park should include some of the following:
- You should be sent a copy of the lease
I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor flat in Rise Park.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is pay 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 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 attracted to a two apartments in Rise Park which have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?
There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Rise Park is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat 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 Rise Park conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. 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.
Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £325000 apartment in Rise Park in seven days. The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Rise Park?
Rise Park conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes often involves the buyer’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to assist. They are entitled charge a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is above £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is technically not due. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to sell the property.
Having spent months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Rise Park. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Rise Park conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case 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 related to 1 flat.
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