I have just started marketing my garden flat in St Athan.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold flat in St Athan. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in St Athan who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

First contact HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a St Athan conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a two apartments in St Athan both have about 50 years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I am employed by a long established estate agency in St Athan where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local St Athan conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the seller 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 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 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.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a St Athan conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a St Athan conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non St Athan conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?

St Athan Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments? If a St Athan lease has less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will probably require a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for a couple of years before you are legally able to extend the lease. Who takes charge for maintaining and repairing the block?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Athan