Planning to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Woodbury. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark

Defining your rights in relation to the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease permit a right of way over an accessway or staircase?

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

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

What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Woodbury please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Woodbury

I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in Woodbury.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Woodbury both have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Woodbury is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the property. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Woodbury conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Woodbury from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woodbury can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers lawyers.
• A minority of Woodbury leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Woodbury home move. If a reissued share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £300000 garden flat in Woodbury in six days. The freeholder has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Woodbury?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Woodbury conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Woodbury
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Woodbury leasehold premises is £350. For Woodbury conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

I bought a ground floor flat in Woodbury, conveyancing formalities finalised 2001. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding flats in Woodbury with a long lease are worth £202,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2095

With 70 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Woodbury