I have recently realised that I have Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Walkden. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder 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 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 demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Walkden.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to meet my requirements, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have just found out that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Walkden. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Walkden are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Walkden in which case you should be looking for a Walkden conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the house is located on an estate. Your solicitor should appraise you on the various issues.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Walkden. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Walkden where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Walkden conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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 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 purchaser.

Are there frequently found defects that you see in leases for Walkden properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Walkden is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Leeds Building Society, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Walkden - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Be sure to find out if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. For instance it is reasonably common in Walkden leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Walkden. If you love the flatin Walkden yet your dog is not allowed to live with you then you will be faced hard compromise. On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, although a few managing agents in Walkden require leasehold owners to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major works. The best form of lease arrangement is where the freehold title is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders have being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is usually employed if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Walkden