I only have 62 years unexpired on my flat in Tedburn St Mary. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Tedburn St Mary.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Tedburn St Mary. Conveyancing solicitors have said 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 Tedburn St Mary should include some of the following:

• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?

Does the lease prevent you from subletting the property, or working from home

You must be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

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 For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Tedburn St Mary please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Tedburn St Mary

Back In 2007, I bought a leasehold flat in Tedburn St Mary. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Tedburn St Mary who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Tedburn St Mary conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Tedburn St Mary from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Tedburn St Mary can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Tedburn St Mary levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Tedburn St Mary.

Some Tedburn St Mary 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 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.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £250000 garden flat in Tedburn St Mary next week. The managing agents has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Tedburn St Mary?

Tedburn St Mary conveyancing on leasehold apartments ordinarily necessitates fees being invoiced by management companies :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Tedburn St Mary
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Tedburn St Mary leasehold property is £350. For Tedburn St Mary 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 answers.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Tedburn St Mary - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

What is the the remaining lease term? What restrictions exist in the Tedburn St Mary Lease? Generally speaking the outlay for major works are not included within service charges, although some managing agents in Tedburn St Mary require leasehold owners to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger works.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tedburn St Mary