I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Southwick. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Southwick should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Southwick which have about 50 years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Southwick. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Southwick. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, 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 busy estate agency in Southwick where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Southwick conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as 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.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £125000 maisonette in Southwick in just under a week. The management company has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Southwick?

Southwick conveyancing on leasehold flats often necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to these enquiries the majority will be content to do so. They are entitled levy a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is above £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to complete the sale of your home.

I am the registered owner of a leasehold flat in Southwick, conveyancing having been completed in 1996. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar flats in Southwick with over 90 years remaining are worth £226,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2093

With 68 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Southwick