Leasehold Conveyancing in Stockbridge Village - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

Get a Quote

Whether you are buying or selling leasehold flat in Stockbridge Village, our panel of leasehold conveyancing experts will help you move with as little stress as possible. Find a Stockbridge Village conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Top Five Questions relating to Stockbridge Village leasehold conveyancing

I only have Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Stockbridge Village. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Stockbridge Village.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor apartment in Stockbridge Village.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

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 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.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Stockbridge Village which have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Stockbridge Village from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Stockbridge Village can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
  • Many freeholders or managing agents in Stockbridge Village levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Stockbridge Village.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Stockbridge Village state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such alterations. If you dont have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
  • Some Stockbridge Village 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 put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Stockbridge Village what are the most frequent lease problems?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Stockbridge Village. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
    • Insurance obligations
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

    I acquired a studio flat in Stockbridge Village, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2001. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent properties in Stockbridge Village with an extended lease are worth £248,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2090

    You have 65 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £19,000 and £22,000 plus professional fees.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Stockbridge Village