Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park:

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While any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Roath Park leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Roath Park - 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.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed flat in Roath Park.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear 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 management companies 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Roath Park where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Roath Park conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

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 can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers representatives.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Roath Park charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought 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 common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park.
  • A minority of Roath Park leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park what are the most common lease problems?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Roath Park is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
    • 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 have 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, Skipton Building Society, and Clydesdale all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

    I own a split level flat in Roath Park, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Roath Park with over 90 years remaining are worth £256,000. The ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2086

    You have 62 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £17,100 and £19,800 plus costs.

    The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Roath Park