Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Trelogan. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Trelogan - 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 am intending to let out my leasehold apartment in Trelogan. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

Notwithstanding that your previous Trelogan conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have recently realised that I have 62 years remaining on my flat in Trelogan. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Trelogan.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Trelogan from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Trelogan can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Trelogan charge for providing 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 accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Trelogan.

A minority of Trelogan leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 solicitors.

If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a new share certificate can be a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Trelogan conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

We expect to complete the sale of our £475000 flat in Trelogan next week. The managing agents has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Trelogan?

Trelogan conveyancing on leasehold flats normally necessitates fees being levied by freeholders :

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Trelogan
• 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 Trelogan leasehold premises is £350. For Trelogan 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 supply the information.

I acquired a ground floor flat in Trelogan, conveyancing having been completed in 2004. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar properties in Trelogan with a long lease are worth £191,000. The ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 2105

With 80 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as 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 cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Trelogan