Leasehold Conveyancing in Small Heath - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Small Heath, you will need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Halifax, Birmingham Midshires or Nationwide be sure to find a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Examples of recent questions relating to leasehold conveyancing in Small Heath

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in Small Heath.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Small Heath. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Small Heath who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Small Heath conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Small Heath where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Small Heath conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Small Heath from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Small Heath can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Small Heath charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Small Heath.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Small Heath state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
  • If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £150000 flat in Small Heath next Thursday . The management company has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Small Heath?

    Small Heath conveyancing on leasehold apartments often necessitates the buyer’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address such questions the majority will be content to do so. They may invoice a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is above £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to sell the property.

    Leasehold Conveyancing in Small Heath - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

      What prohibitions are there in the Small Heath Lease? It would be prudent to discover if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. For instance some leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Small Heath. If you like the apartmentin Small Heath however your dog can’t move with you then you have a very difficult choice. Is the freehold owned collectively by the leaseholders?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Small Heath