Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Ruthin. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Ruthin - 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.

There are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Ruthin. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder 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 vesting order request to the County Court covering Ruthin.

I have just appointed agents to market my garden apartment in Ruthin.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until 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 work for a busy estate agency in Ruthin where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Ruthin conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 has to be done prior to, 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 buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Ruthin from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ruthin can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Ruthin charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ruthin.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Ruthin state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. If you fail to have the consents to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer first.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

I invested in buying a studio flat in Ruthin, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. 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? Equivalent flats in Ruthin with an extended lease are worth £236,000. The ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2085

With only 59 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £20,900 and £24,200 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.