Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Sacriston:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Sacriston, you will need to appoint a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Clydesdale , Yorkshire Building Society or NatWest be sure to find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Sacriston leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years left on my flat in Sacriston. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Sacriston.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Sacriston. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, 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 be sure 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).

I work for a busy estate agency in Sacriston where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Sacriston conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. 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 buyer.

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Sacriston conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Sacriston conveyancing firm) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you talk with several firms including non Sacriston conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be helpful:

  • How experienced is the firm with lease extension legislation?
  • If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

    • Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Sacriston from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Sacriston can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
    • Many freeholders or managing agents in Sacriston levy fees 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 as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Sacriston.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Sacriston leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. If you fail to have the consents in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
  • Some Sacriston leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous 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 settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.

    • Sacriston Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

      What is the name of the managing agents? You should be aware if it is fewer than 80 years it will impact the salability of the property. Check with your bank that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most Sacristonlease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the property for a couple of years in order to be eligible to carry out a lease extension. The majority of Sacriston leasehold flats will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the block invoiced by the landlord. Where you buy the property you will have to meet this liability, usually periodically during the year. This could be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Sacriston