Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Wokingham:

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While any conveyancing practice can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Wokingham, your mortgage provider may unwilling to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Questions and Answers: Wokingham leasehold conveyancing

Due to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Wokingham. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
  • Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or having a home office for business
  • 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
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
  • Repair and maintenance of the flat
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Wokingham please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Wokingham

    • I've found a house that seems to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just found out that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in Wokingham. Conveyancing solicitors have are soon to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Wokingham ?

    The majority of houses in Wokingham are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Wokingham so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Wokingham conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the landlord’spermission to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the estate where the property is located on an estate. Your solicitor should appraise you on the various issues.

    Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold flat in Wokingham. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Wokingham who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

    The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Wokingham conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    I work for a long established estate agency in Wokingham where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Wokingham conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

    Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 buyer 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

    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 purchaser.

    Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Wokingham with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Wokingham can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Wokingham state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.
  • A minority of Wokingham 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 financial (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 landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • Wokingham Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

      Is anyone aware of any major works in the planning that will increase the maintenance charges? Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? This information is useful as a) areas can result in problems for the building as the common areas may start to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will want to have all the details

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Wokingham