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Leasehold conveyancing in The Meadows is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in The Meadows and throughout next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Recently asked questions relating to The Meadows leasehold conveyancing

Frank (my husband) and I may need to let out our The Meadows 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a The Meadows conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last The Meadows conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek permission from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

There are only Fifty years remaining on my lease in The Meadows. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing The Meadows.

Back In 2009, I bought a leasehold house in The Meadows. Conveyancing and Chelsea Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in The Meadows who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a The Meadows conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in The Meadows both have approximately fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in The Meadows. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in The Meadows with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in The Meadows can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in The Meadows state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you dont have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer before hand.
  • Some The Meadows leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a The Meadows conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

    • I own a split level flat in The Meadows, conveyancing formalities finalised 2007. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable flats in The Meadows with over 90 years remaining are worth £230,000. The ground rent is £60 per annum. The lease ceases on 21st October 2101

    With 76 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £8,600 and £9,800 plus costs.

    The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in The Meadows