Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City:

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Any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Questions and Answers: Welwyn Garden City leasehold conveyancing

Harry (my fiance) and I may need to let out our Welwyn Garden City ground floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Welwyn Garden City conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your last Welwyn Garden City conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. The consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Due to complete next month on a studio apartment in Welwyn Garden City. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City should include some of the following:

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
  • The total extent of the demise. This will be the property itself but may incorporate a loft or cellar if applicable.
  • Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?
  • You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Welwyn Garden City please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City

    • Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Welwyn Garden City. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

    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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part 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 work for a long established estate agent office in Welwyn Garden City where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Welwyn Garden City conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

    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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 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 disposal of the property.

    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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
    • Many freeholders or Management Companies in Welwyn Garden City levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Welwyn Garden City state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you fail to have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
  • A minority of Welwyn Garden City leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

    • I am the registered owner of a garden flat in Welwyn Garden City, conveyancing having been completed 1995. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Welwyn Garden City with an extended lease are worth £234,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2099

    With only 74 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to be between £12,400 and £14,200 as well as costs.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Welwyn Garden City