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Questions and Answers: Verwood leasehold conveyancing

I have recently realised that I have Fifty years remaining on my lease in Verwood. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. For most situations a specialist may be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Verwood.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Verwood.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the service charge 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 unless 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.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Verwood both have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I work for a long established estate agency in Verwood where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Verwood conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed 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 buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Verwood with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Verwood can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
  • Some Verwood leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to 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 ahead of 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Verwood conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • Verwood Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

      How much is the yearly maintenance fee and ground rent? Make sure you find out if the the lease contains any adverse restrictions in the lease. By way of example some leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Verwood. If you love the apartmentin Verwood yet your cat can’t make the move with you then you have a very difficult choice. What is the the remaining lease term?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Verwood