Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Sheldon. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Sheldon.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Sheldon. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Sheldon should include some of the following:

• Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease contain a right of way over a path or hallways?

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have since discovered that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Sheldon. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Sheldon ?

Most houses in Sheldon are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in Sheldon in which case you should be shopping around for a Sheldon conveyancing practitioner and check that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions such as obtaining the landlord’spermission to conduct alterations. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your lawyer will advise you fully on all the issues.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Sheldon where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Sheldon conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start 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. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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.

Are there frequently found defects that you witness in leases for Sheldon properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Sheldon is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• 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

You could encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Halifax, Leeds Building Society, and TSB all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Sheldon - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments? Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the building? The majority of Sheldon leasehold apartments will have a service charge for the upkeep of the block invoiced on behalf of the landlord. Should you purchase the apartment you will have to pay this amount, usually in instalments during the year. This may vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to enquire as occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds.

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Lease Extensions in Sheldon