Top Five Questions relating to Rochdale leasehold conveyancing
Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our Rochdale garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Rochdale conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?
Some leases for properties in Rochdale do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience dictates 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.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Rochdale. I now wish to extend my lease 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 apply 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 Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. In some cases a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Rochdale.
Planning to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Rochdale. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Rochdale should include some of the following:
- Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
I’m about to sell my basement flat in Rochdale.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is clear 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 a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Rochdale where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Rochdale conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.
I invested in buying a split level flat in Rochdale, conveyancing having been completed in 2001. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar properties in Rochdale with an extended lease are worth £184,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease expires on 21st October 2093
With just 68 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £10,500 and £12,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
Other Topics