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Leasehold conveyancing in Toddington 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 Toddington and next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Common questions relating to Toddington leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Toddington. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Toddington - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I’m about to sell my 2 bed apartment in Toddington.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Toddington which have approximately forty five years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Toddington. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Toddington where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Toddington conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Toddington from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Toddington can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in Toddington levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover 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 receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Toddington.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Toddington leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Where you dont have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.
  • A minority of Toddington leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • I purchased a ground floor flat in Toddington, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2003. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar properties in Toddington with an extended lease are worth £243,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2081

    You have 60 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £25,700 and £29,600 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

    The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Toddington