I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Woodley. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Woodley - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

My fiance and I may need to sub-let our Woodley basement flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Woodley conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Woodley conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have recently realised that I have 72 years left on my flat in Woodley. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Woodley.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Woodley conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Woodley conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you talk with several firms including non Woodley conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How experienced is the firm with lease extension legislation?

If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?

We expect to complete the sale of our £275000 garden flat in Woodley next week. The managing agents has quoted £312 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Woodley?

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

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Woodley
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Woodley leasehold property is £350. For Woodley 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 obliged to supply answers.

Woodley Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

The majority of Woodley leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the freeholder. If you acquire the flat you will have to pay this charge, normally in instalments during the year. This could differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common grounds. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to check as sometimes it could be surprisingly expensive. In the main the cost for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Woodley ask leasehold owners to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major works. You should be aware that where the lease has no more than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. For most Woodleylease extensions you would need to own the property for a couple of years before you are eligible to exercise a lease extension.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Woodley