My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Tremeirchion. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Tremeirchion who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Tremeirchion conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Tremeirchion both have in the region of fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Tremeirchion. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Tremeirchion. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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).

I work for a long established estate agent office in Tremeirchion where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Tremeirchion conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Tremeirchion what are the most common lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Tremeirchion. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You may have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Coventry Building Society, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Tremeirchion - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

You will want to discover as much as you can concerning the managing agents as they can either make life much easier or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you will be in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day issues such as the upkeep of the common parts. Enquire of prospective neighbours what they think of their management. On a final note, be sure you understand the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the relevant party and precisely what you get for your money. The best form of lease structure is where the freehold title is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the tenants enjoy being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is usually retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. Plenty Tremeirchion leasehold flats will incur a service charge for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the landlord. Where you purchase the flat you will have to meet this liability, usually in instalments during the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay annual, normally this is not a significant sum, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to check as on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive.

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Lease Extensions in Tremeirchion