Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Taunton

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Any conveyancing practice can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Taunton, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Recently asked questions relating to Taunton leasehold conveyancing

Due to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Taunton. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Taunton should include some of the following:

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • The total extent of the demise. This will be the flat itself but might incorporate a roof space or cellar if applicable.
  • Defining your rights in relation to the communal areas in the block.E.G., does the lease contain a right of way over a path or staircase?
  • You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Taunton please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Taunton

    • Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold flat in Taunton. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Taunton who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

    The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Taunton conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Taunton which have about forty five years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

    There are plenty of short leases in Taunton. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises 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 get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

    I've recently bought a leasehold property in Taunton. 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 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).

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Taunton from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Taunton can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
    • Many landlords or managing agents in Taunton charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Taunton.
  • Some Taunton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of 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 clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • I acquired a garden flat in Taunton, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent properties in Taunton with over 90 years remaining are worth £172,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2102

    With only 77 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £10,500 and £12,000 plus legals.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Taunton