Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in St Columb:

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St Columb leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I only have Seventy years unexpired on my flat in St Columb. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. For most situations a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering St Columb.

I have just started marketing my basement apartment in St Columb.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you 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 until 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in St Columb. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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. Strange as it may seem, 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 reputable estate agent office in St Columb where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local St Columb conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in St Columb from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in St Columb can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
  • Many landlords or managing agents in St Columb charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in St Columb.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? St Columb leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Where you fail to have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer first.
  • Some St Columb leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a St Columb home move. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • St Columb Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before buying

      The majority of St Columb leasehold apartments will have a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced by the freeholder. Should you buy the apartment you will have to pay this amount, normally in instalments accross the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a significant figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to check it because on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. The prefered form of lease structure is if the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders have being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is often retained where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. How is the lease structured?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in St Columb