Planning to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Wallasey. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?

Does the lease prevent you from subletting the property, or working from home

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Wallasey please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Wallasey

I work for a busy estate agency in Wallasey where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Wallasey conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate 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 proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Wallasey from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wallasey can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Wallasey levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wallasey.

Some Wallasey leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The 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 there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved 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 settle 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Wallasey conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

We expect to complete the sale of our £150000 garden flat in Wallasey in seven days. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Wallasey?

Wallasey conveyancing on leasehold flats usually involves administration charges invoiced by management companies :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Wallasey
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Wallasey leasehold premises is £350. For Wallasey conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

What makes a Wallasey lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Wallasey. All leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Leeds Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

I own a basement flat in Wallasey, conveyancing having been completed 3 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? Corresponding flats in Wallasey with a long lease are worth £239,000. The ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2105

With just 80 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Wallasey