Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Ventnor:

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Questions and Answers: Ventnor leasehold conveyancing

Expecting to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Ventnor. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Ventnor should include some of the following:

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
  • Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the property, or having a home office for business
  • You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
  • Repair and maintenance of the flat
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Ventnor please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Ventnor

    • Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Ventnor. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

    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).

    I work for a long established estate agency in Ventnor where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Ventnor conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

    Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

    An alternative approach is 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.

    What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a Ventnor conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

    When appointing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Ventnor conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Ventnor conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be helpful:

    • Can they put you in touch with client in Ventnor who can give a testimonial?
  • What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing?

    • Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Ventnor with the intention of expediting the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ventnor can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
    • Some Ventnor 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 put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Ventnor conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • Ventnor Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

      Be sure to find out if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. For instance some leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Ventnor. If you like the apartmentin Ventnor but your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be presented with a difficult decision. Where a Ventnor lease has no more than 80 years it will affect the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the property for a couple of years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension. Most Ventnor leasehold properties will incur a service charge for maintenance of the block invoiced by the landlord. Should you acquire the flat you will have to pay this amount, usually quarterly throughout the year. This can vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant amount, say around £25-£75 but you need to check it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Ventnor