There are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Sandbach. I now want 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 apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Sandbach.

I am attracted to a two apartments in Sandbach which have approximately 50 years remaining on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Sandbach is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. The majority of buyers and banks, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Sandbach conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Sandbach. 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 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. A critical element 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).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Sandbach with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Sandbach can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• A minority of Sandbach leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, 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 financially capable of paying 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 solicitors.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Sandbach home move. If a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £ 375000 maisonette in Sandbach next Wednesday . The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Sandbach?

Sandbach conveyancing on leasehold apartments often involves the purchaser’s conveyancer sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be content to assist. They are at liberty levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

I inherited a garden flat in Sandbach, conveyancing formalities finalised 2006. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Sandbach with a long lease are worth £175,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2096

With only 70 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £7,600 and £8,800 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.