Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Tavistock. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Tavistock should include some of the following:

• Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?

Whether the lease restricts you from renting out the flat, or working from home

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Tavistock please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Tavistock

I’m about to sell my ground floor apartment in Tavistock.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a half-yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you pay 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 unless 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Tavistock both have about 50 years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Tavistock. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a long established estate agent office in Tavistock where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Tavistock conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser 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 has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

We expect to complete the sale of our £300000 maisonette in Tavistock next week. The management company has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Tavistock?

Tavistock conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically involves fees being invoiced by landlords agents :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Tavistock
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Tavistock leasehold premises is £350. For Tavistock conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Tavistock - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

In the main the cost for major works are not included within service charges, although there some managing agents in Tavistock obliged leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. What is the yearly service fee and ground rent? Are there any major works on the horizon that will add a premium to the service costs?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tavistock