Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in St Brides Major

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in St Brides Major, you will need to chose a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Clydesdale , Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley make sure you find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Recently asked questions relating to St Brides Major leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in St Brides Major. Before I get started I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in St Brides Major - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in St Brides Major. Conveyancing and Yorkshire Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in St Brides Major who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a St Brides Major conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in St Brides Major. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 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 St Brides Major where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local St Brides Major conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence 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 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 sale.

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 buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in St Brides Major from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in St Brides Major can be reduced if you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? St Brides Major leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Should you dont have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to 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 reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a St Brides Major home move. Where a duplicate share is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • St Brides Major Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

      Best to be warned if a new roof is being installed or some other significant cost is pending that will be shared between the tenants and will materially increase the the service charges or require a specific payment. How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments? How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the flat?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in St Brides Major