Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in St Athan:

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Recently asked questions relating to St Athan leasehold conveyancing

There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in St Athan. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering St Athan.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in St Athan. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

  • How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in St Athan please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in St Athan

    • Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in St Athan.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

    The sensible thing to do is clear 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 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

    Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in St Athan. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

    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. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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 work for a reputable estate agency in St Athan where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local St Athan conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

    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. This means that the buyer 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 prior to, or simultaneously with 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.

    St Athan Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

      Is anyone aware of any major works on the horizon that will likely add a premium to the maintenance charges? How much is the ground rent and service charge? What is the name of the managing agents?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in St Athan