Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Torpoint. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Torpoint - 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.

My husband and I may need to sub-let our Torpoint 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Torpoint conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Torpoint conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Torpoint. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Torpoint with the aim of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Torpoint can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Torpoint charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Torpoint.
• A minority of Torpoint 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 put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly 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 buyers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Torpoint home move. If a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

What are the common problems that you encounter in leases for Torpoint properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Torpoint is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, Leeds Building Society, and Barclays Direct all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Torpoint Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders benefit from control and even though a managing agent is frequently retained if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. Most Torpoint leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the block set by the management company. Where you purchase the apartment you will have to pay this liability, normally periodically during the year. This may vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you need to check it because sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. Is the freehold owned jointly by the tenants?