Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Stone Cross. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Stone Cross - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Stone Cross ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Stone Cross conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Stone Cross do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.

I only have Fifty years left on my flat in Stone Cross. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

If 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 extended by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Stone Cross.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Stone Cross where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Stone Cross conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having 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 disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Stone Cross what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Stone Cross. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts 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 problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Barclays , The Mortgage Works, and Aldermore all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Stone Cross - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

What is the the remaining lease term? How much is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent? Does the lease include onerous restrictions?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Stone Cross