Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Wadhurst:

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Wadhurst leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my flat in Wadhurst. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

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 lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Wadhurst.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in Wadhurst.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you clear 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 managing agents 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Back In 2004, I bought a leasehold house in Wadhurst. Conveyancing and Godiva Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Wadhurst who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Wadhurst conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Wadhurst where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Wadhurst conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Wadhurst with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wadhurst can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • Many landlords or Management Companies in Wadhurst levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wadhurst.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Wadhurst state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Where you dont have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.
  • A minority of Wadhurst leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. 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 clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

    • Wadhurst Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

      Where a Wadhurst lease has no more than 80 years it will impact the marketability of the property. Check with your bank that they are content with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely require a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the premises for two years in order to be legally able to extend the lease. Most Wadhurst leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block levied by the management company. Where you buy the flat you will have to pay this liability, usually periodically during the year. This could differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because occasionally it could be surprisingly expensive. Who are the managing agents?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Wadhurst