Due to exchange soon on a basement flat in St Andrews. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in St Andrews should include some of the following:

• The total extent of the property. This will be the flat itself but might include a roof space or cellar if applicable.

Defining your legal entitlements in relation to common areas in the building.For instance, does the lease provide for a right of way over an accessway or hallways?

Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?

Does the lease prevent you from subletting the property, or having a home office for business

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in St Andrews please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in St Andrews

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in St Andrews.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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 managing agents 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in St Andrews. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been instructed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in St Andrews are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in St Andrews so you should seriously consider shopping around for a St Andrews conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the landlord’sconsent to carry out alterations. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your solicitor will advise you fully on all the issues.

I work for a busy estate agency in St Andrews where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local St Andrews conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities 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 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

Completion in due on the sale of our £225000 garden flat in St Andrews in six days. The managing agents has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in St Andrews?

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

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in St Andrews
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 St Andrews leasehold property is £350. For St Andrews 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 answers.

St Andrews Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

If a St Andrews lease has less than 80 years it will impact the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably need a lease extension sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have been the owner of the property for a couple of years in order to be legally able to extend the lease. What is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property? This information is useful as a) areas could result in problems in the block as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will wish to have all the details

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Andrews