Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Sea Mills:

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Leasehold conveyancing in Sea Mills 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 Sea Mills and 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 Sea Mills leasehold conveyancing

I have recently realised that I have Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Sea Mills. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be useful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Sea Mills.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Sea Mills. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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. 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 ensure 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).

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Sea Mills conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Sea Mills conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you speak with two or three firms including non Sea Mills conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

  • How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?
  • If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?

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

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Sea Mills can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
    • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Sea Mills state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in the first instance.
  • A minority of Sea Mills leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord 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 have to bite the bullet 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 are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Sea Mills home move. If a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Sea Mills what are the most frequent lease problems?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Sea Mills is not unique. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
    • A duty to insure the building
    • 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 issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Barclays , Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

    I purchased a studio flat in Sea Mills, conveyancing formalities finalised 2008. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar flats in Sea Mills with a long lease are worth £189,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2071

    With only 50 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to be between £33,300 and £38,400 plus legals.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Sea Mills