I’m about to sell my basement flat in Turvey.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

It best that you pay the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold house in Turvey. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Turvey who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Turvey conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note 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 work for a busy estate agency in Turvey where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Turvey conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Turvey from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Turvey can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Turvey charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Turvey.

Some Turvey leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride 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 buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Turvey conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

We expect to complete our sale of a £275000 apartment in Turvey in 8 days. The management company has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Turvey?

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

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Turvey
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Turvey leasehold property is £350. For Turvey 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 provide answers.

Turvey Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Where a Turvey lease has no more than eighty years it will affect the value of the property. Check with your bank that they are happy with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the property for two years in order to be eligible to exercise a lease extension. Make sure you enquire if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example it is very common in Turvey leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Turvey. If you like the propertyin Turvey but your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced difficult decision. You will want to discover as much as possible about the company managing the building as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical matters like the cleanliness of the common parts. Ask other tenants whether they are happy with their service. In conclusion, find out the dates that the service charges are due to the appropriate party and precisely what it includes.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Turvey