I am hoping to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Thornaby. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Defining your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or staircase?

Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or working from home

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

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 Thornaby please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Thornaby

I own a leasehold flat in Thornaby. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in Thornaby who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Thornaby conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two flats in Thornaby both have approximately fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Thornaby is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of buyers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Thornaby conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Thornaby where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Thornaby conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £125000 garden flat in Thornaby in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Thornaby?

For most leasehold sales in Thornaby conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Thornaby
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Thornaby leasehold property is £350. For Thornaby 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 Thornaby - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Plenty Thornaby leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the management company. If you purchase the property you will have to meet this contribution, usually quarterly accross the year. This can differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, ordinarily this is not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you should to check it because on occasion it could be prohibitively expensive. In the main the outlay for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Thornaby obliged tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major repairs or maintenance. How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Thornaby