Looking forward to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Tredegar. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Tredegar should include some of the following:

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
• Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?
• You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

Back In 2000, I bought a leasehold flat in Tredegar. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Tredegar who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Tredegar conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Tredegar which have approximately 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Tredegar. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Tredegar where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Tredegar conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 buyer need not have 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 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 buyer.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Tredegar conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Tredegar conveyancing practice) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Tredegar conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• How many lease extensions has the firm completed in Tredegar in the last year?

I invested in buying a 2 bed flat in Tredegar, conveyancing having been completed 5 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent properties in Tredegar with an extended lease are worth £244,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2078

With just 52 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £39,000 and £45,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.