Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Yorkshire Dales:

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

Sample questions relating to Yorkshire Dales leasehold conveyancing

There are only 68 years left on my lease in Yorkshire Dales. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Yorkshire Dales.

I have just appointed agents to market my garden apartment in Yorkshire Dales.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay 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 unless 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Yorkshire Dales which have approximately forty five years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Yorkshire Dales. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Yorkshire Dales conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Yorkshire Dales conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Yorkshire Dales conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

  • How many lease extensions have they carried out in Yorkshire Dales in the last year?
  • Can they put you in touch with client in Yorkshire Dales who can give a testimonial?

    • Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Yorkshire Dales with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Yorkshire Dales can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the 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 permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Yorkshire Dales leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
  • A minority of Yorkshire Dales leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand 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 solicitors.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to 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 reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy process and delays many a Yorkshire Dales conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

    • Yorkshire Dales Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

      The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold title is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently retained if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. How much is the yearly service fee and ground rent? Who manages the building?

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Yorkshire Dales