Recently asked questions relating to Shirehampton leasehold conveyancing
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Shirehampton. Before I get started I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Shirehampton - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
Jane (my partner) and I may need to sub-let our Shirehampton 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Shirehampton conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?
Notwithstanding that your previous Shirehampton conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.
I am looking at a two maisonettes in Shirehampton which have in the region of forty five years remaining on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?
There are plenty of short leases in Shirehampton. The lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field
I've recently bought a leasehold property in Shirehampton. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?
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. 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).
I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Shirehampton where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Shirehampton conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.
Shirehampton Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying
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Be sure to find out if the the lease contains any adverse restrictions in the lease. For instance some leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Shirehampton. If you like the propertyin Shirehampton yet your dog is not allowed to move with you then you will be presented with a hard decision.
You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than 80 years it will impact the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for a couple of years in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension.
The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the leaseholders benefit from control and even though a managing agent is often employed where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.
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