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

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Woodley, you will need to chose a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Halifax, Birmingham Midshires or NatWest make sure you choose a lawyer on their approved list. Find a Woodley conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Top Five Questions relating to Woodley leasehold conveyancing

I only have Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Woodley. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Woodley.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in Woodley.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

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 attracted to a couple of apartments in Woodley which have in the region of 50 years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Woodley is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive 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 Woodley conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Woodley with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Woodley can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • Many freeholders or Management Companies in Woodley levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Woodley.
  • Some Woodley 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. Any 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 you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Woodley home move. Where a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • What are the common defects that you come across in leases for Woodley properties?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Woodley is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    You will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Coventry Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

    Woodley Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

      It is important to be aware whether changing the roof or some other major work is anticipated to be shared amongst the leasehold owners and will dramatically impact the level of the service fees or require a one off payment. What is the yearly service fee and ground rent? Plenty Woodley leasehold properties will have a service bill for maintenance of the block set by the management company. Where you purchase the property you will have to meet this contribution, normally in instalments during the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, normally this is not a large figure, say about £25-£75 but you should to check it because occasionally it can be prohibitively expensive.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Woodley