Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Welwyn Garden City - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Due to complete next month on a leasehold property in Welwyn Garden City. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

I have just started marketing my basement apartment in Welwyn Garden City.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

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 management companies 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Welwyn Garden City where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Welwyn Garden City conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process 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 wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

Are there common defects that you encounter in leases for Welwyn Garden City properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• 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 will have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

I purchased a garden flat in Welwyn Garden City, conveyancing having been completed in 2005. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Welwyn Garden City with a long lease are worth £169,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease expires on 21st October 2086

You have 61 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £19,000 and £22,000 as well as professional fees.

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

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Welwyn Garden City