I own a leasehold flat in Tredegar. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Tredegar who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Tredegar 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 a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Tredegar where we see a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Tredegar conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with 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 buyer.

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Tredegar conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Tredegar conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Tredegar conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

What are the legal fees for lease extension work?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Tredegar with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Tredegar can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
• Some Tredegar leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain 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 buyers or their lawyers.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle 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 purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and delays many a Tredegar conveyancing transaction. Where a reissued share is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £225000 flat in Tredegar next week. The landlords agents has quoted £348 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Tredegar?

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

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Tredegar
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Tredegar leasehold premises is £350. For Tredegar 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 required to provide the information.

Tredegar Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

Make sure you enquire if the the lease includes any unreasonable restrictions in the lease. For instance it is very common in Tredegar leases that pets are not allowed in in a block in Tredegar. If you like the apartmentin Tredegar however your cat is not allowed to live with you then you will be faced hard choice. How much is the ground rent and service charge? Who is in charge of the block?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tredegar