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Questions and Answers: Tutbury leasehold conveyancing

I only have Fifty years remaining on my lease in Tutbury. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. On the whole a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Tutbury.

Expecting to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Tutbury. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Defining your legal entitlements in relation to common areas in the building.By way of example, does the lease contain a right of way over an accessway or hallways?
  • You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Tutbury please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Tutbury

    • My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Tutbury. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Tutbury who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

    The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Tutbury conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Tutbury. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

    In a situation 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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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).

    Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Tutbury from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Tutbury can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
    • Many landlords or Management Companies in Tutbury charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Tutbury.
  • Some Tutbury leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any 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 lawyers.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder 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 reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Tutbury conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • I own a studio flat in Tutbury, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Comparable flats in Tutbury with an extended lease are worth £249,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 yearly. The lease expires on 21st October 2092

    With just 67 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £12,400 and £14,200 plus legals.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Tutbury