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Recently asked questions relating to St Columb leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in St Columb. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in St Columb - 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.

My wife and I may need to let out our St Columb ground floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a St Columb conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in St Columb do not prevent strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in St Columb. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

  • Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • 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? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in St Columb please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in St Columb

    • I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor flat in St Columb.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

    It best that you clear 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.

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in St Columb from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in St Columb can be reduced if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in St Columb state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
  • Some St Columb leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a new share certificate can be a lengthy formality and slows down many a St Columb home move. If a reissued share certificate is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

    • St Columb Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

      In the main the cost for major works tend not to be built into the service charges, albeit that some managing agents in St Columb ask leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance. You will want to discover as much as possible regarding the company managing the building as they will either make your living at the property much easier or a lot more difficult. As the owner of a leasehold property you will be at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day matters like the upkeep of the common parts. Ask other tenants what they think of them. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that the service fees are due to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending the funds. If a St Columb lease has fewer than eighty years it will impact the marketability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are happy with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would be be obliged to have been the owner of the premises for a couple of years before you are entitled to extend the lease.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in St Columb