I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Walton Le Dale.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you discharge 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 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Walton Le Dale. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. 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 am employed by a long established estate agent office in Walton Le Dale where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Walton Le Dale conveyancing firms. Can 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 kick-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 needs to be completed 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Walton Le Dale from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Walton Le Dale can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• 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 Walton Le Dale state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Walton Le Dale what are the most frequent lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Walton Le Dale. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections 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 premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could encounter 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, Bank of Scotland, and Aldermore 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 does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Walton Le Dale - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

It would be sensible to find out as much as you can regarding the managing agents as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to practical issues such as the tidiness of the communal areas. Enquire of other people what they think of their management. Finally, investigate as to the dates that the service charges are due to the managing agents and precisely what it includes. It is important to be aware if fixing the lift or some other significant cost is anticipated that will be shared by the leasehold owners and could well dramatically impact the level of the service charges or result in a one off payment. This information is useful as a) areas could result in problems in the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where repairs remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to know about it

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Walton Le Dale