There are only Fifty years remaining on my lease in Royton. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

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 enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Royton.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Looking forward to exchange soon on a basement flat in Royton. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Royton should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
• Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease include a right of way over a path or hallways?
• You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Royton please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Royton

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Royton. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £ 500000 flat in Royton in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Royton?

Royton conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times results in administration charges raised by freeholders :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Royton
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Royton leasehold premises is £350. For Royton conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to provide answers.

What makes a Royton lease defective?

Leasehold conveyancing in Royton is not unique. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Lloyds TSB Bank, Coventry Building Society, and Clydesdale 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 grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Royton - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees have being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is usually retained where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders.