Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Sketty. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Sketty - 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Sketty. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation 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 employed by a long established estate agent office in Sketty where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Sketty conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having 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 before, 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 purchaser.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Sketty conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Sketty conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non Sketty conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• How many lease extensions has the firm carried out in Sketty in the last 12 months?

Can they put you in touch with client in Sketty who can give a testimonial?

We expect to complete the sale of our £275000 maisonette in Sketty in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Sketty?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Sketty conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Sketty
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Sketty leasehold premises is £350. For Sketty conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Sketty - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

It is important to be aware whether window replacement or some other major work is due in the near future that will be shared by the tenants and will dramatically impact the level of the maintenance fees or require a one off payment. The majority of Sketty leasehold apartments will have a service charge for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the freeholder. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this amount, normally in instalments throughout the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a large amount, say around £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. How is the lease structured?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Sketty