Sample questions relating to Stalybridge leasehold conveyancing
Expecting to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Stalybridge. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Stalybridge should include some of the following:
- The physical extent of the demise. This will be the property itself but might incorporate a loft or cellar if appropriate.
My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Stalybridge. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Stalybridge who acted for me is not around.Any advice?
The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Stalybridge conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I've recently bought a leasehold property in Stalybridge. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part 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 am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Stalybridge where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Stalybridge conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
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 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 needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Stalybridge with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Stalybridge can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
- The majority freeholders or managing agents in Stalybridge charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Stalybridge.
Stalybridge Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying
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What restrictions are there in the Stalybridge Lease?
Please note that where the lease has less than eighty years it will impact the salability of the apartment. Check with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. For most Stalybridgelease extensions you would need to own the residence for two years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension.
You should want to discover as much as you can regarding the company managing the building as they can either make life much easier or uncomfortable. As the owner of a leasehold property you are often at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily issues like the tidiness of the common parts. Don't be shy to ask other people whether they are happy with them. Finally, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the relevant party and precisely how they are spending that money.
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