Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Saffron Walden:

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Leasehold conveyancing in Saffron Walden is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Saffron Walden and throughout next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Common questions relating to Saffron Walden leasehold conveyancing

I am intending to sublet my leasehold flat in Saffron Walden. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Notwithstanding that your last Saffron Walden conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

There are only Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Saffron Walden. I need to get lease extension but my landlord 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Saffron Walden.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Saffron Walden where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Saffron Walden conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 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 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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Saffron Walden from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Saffron Walden can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • Some Saffron Walden leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual 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 you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Saffron Walden conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 75 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 premises on the market for sale.

    • All being well we will complete our sale of a £375000 apartment in Saffron Walden in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Saffron Walden?

    Saffron Walden conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally necessitates the buyer’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries the majority will be willing to assist. They are entitled levy a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is above £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to complete the sale of your home.

    Saffron Walden Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

      The majority of Saffron Walden leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced on behalf of the landlord. If you acquire the flat you will have to meet this contribution, usually periodically during the year. This could differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a exorbitant figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to check it because on occasion it could be many hundreds of pounds. Is the freehold owned jointly by the tenants? Generally speaking the cost for major works are not incorporated into the service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Saffron Walden require leasehold owners to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major works.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Saffron Walden