Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Sunninghill:

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Sunninghill leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Sunninghill. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Sunninghill.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in Sunninghill.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you clear 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 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 looking at a couple of maisonettes in Sunninghill both have approximately forty five years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Sunninghill. The lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage companies may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Sunninghill from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Sunninghill can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers lawyers.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Sunninghill state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.
  • If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a new share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Sunninghill home move. Where a reissued share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • What makes a Sunninghill lease unmortgageable?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Sunninghill. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Bank of Scotland, and Bank of Ireland all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

    I invested in buying a garden flat in Sunninghill, conveyancing formalities finalised 1998. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Sunninghill with an extended lease are worth £181,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 per annum. The lease expires on 21st October 2102

    With only 77 years left to run the likely cost is going to range between £8,600 and £9,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

    The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Sunninghill