Sample questions relating to Alsager leasehold conveyancing
There are only 72 years remaining on my flat in Alsager. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?
If 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 Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Alsager.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Alsager.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – 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 management companies 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Alsager. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Alsager where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Alsager conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 buyer.
What makes a Alsager lease problematic?
Leasehold conveyancing in Alsager is not unique. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:
- A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
- A duty to insure the building
- 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
A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, The Mortgage Works, and Nottingham Building Society all have very detailed 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 problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.
Alsager Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing
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How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments?
If a Alsager lease has no more than 80 years it will impact the marketability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are happy with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. For most Alsagerlease extensions you will need to own the premises for 24 months before you are legally able to extend the lease.
Plenty Alsager leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the block levied on behalf of the management company. Where you purchase the apartment you will have to pay this amount, usually quarterly during the year. This could differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large sum, say about £50-£100 but you need to enquire as occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds.
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