Recently asked questions relating to Seascale leasehold conveyancing
There are only Fifty years left on my lease in Seascale. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?
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 mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Seascale.
Due to exchange soon on a garden flat in Seascale. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?
Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Seascale should include some of the following:
- You should receive a copy of the lease
I've recently bought a leasehold house in Seascale. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?
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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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).
I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Seascale where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Seascale conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
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 buyer.
What are the frequently found problems that you come across in leases for Seascale properties?
There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Seascale. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:
- Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
- A duty to insure the building
- Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
- Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall
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, Leeds Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to pull out.
Seascale Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before Purchasing
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How much is the service charge and ground rent on the property?
Who manages the block?
This information is important as a) areas could result in problems in the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where services are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will want to have complete disclosure
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