Leasehold Conveyancing in Whiston - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

Get a Quote

Whether you are buying or selling leasehold flat in Whiston, our panel of leasehold conveyancing experts will help you move with as little stress as possible. Find a Whiston conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Common questions relating to Whiston leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Whiston. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Whiston - 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.

There are only Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Whiston. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Whiston.

I am hoping to complete next month on a leasehold property in Whiston. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • Repair and maintenance of the flat
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Whiston please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Whiston

    • What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Whiston conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

    If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Whiston conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Whiston conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be of use:

    • If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?
  • What are the charges for lease extension work?

    • Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Whiston from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Whiston can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
    • A minority of Whiston leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 buyers or their lawyers.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord 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 a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Whiston conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • I purchased a garden flat in Whiston, conveyancing having been completed in 1995. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Whiston with over 90 years remaining are worth £216,000. The ground rent is £60 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2102

    With 78 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as legals.

    The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Whiston