Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Sawston:

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While any conveyancing practice can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Sawston, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Sample questions relating to Sawston leasehold conveyancing

My husband and I may need to rent out our Sawston basement flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Sawston conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Sawston conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I am looking at a two apartments in Sawston both have approximately fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Sawston. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a long established estate agent office in Sawston where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Sawston conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence 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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Sawston with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Sawston can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
  • A minority of Sawston leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy formality and slows down many a Sawston conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Sawston what are the most common lease defects?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Sawston. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Direct 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.

    Sawston Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

      Does this lease have in excess of 85 years unexpired? Is anyone aware of any major works anticipated that will likely add a premium to the maintenance charges? Does the lease have onerous restrictions?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Sawston