Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Shotton. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Shotton - 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Shotton. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Shotton.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Shotton. Conveyancing and Clydesdale mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Shotton who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Shotton conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Shotton where we have witnessed a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Shotton conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is 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 needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Shotton from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Shotton can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Shotton levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Shotton.

I inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Shotton, conveyancing having been completed 7 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Shotton with an extended lease are worth £193,000. The ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2085

You have 61 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £18,100 and £20,800 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Shotton