Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in Altrincham.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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.

I've found a house that appears to be perfect, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Altrincham. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Altrincham are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Altrincham in which case you should be looking for a Altrincham conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions such as requiring the freeholder’spermission to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your conveyancer will report to you on the legal implications.

I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Altrincham where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Altrincham conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Altrincham with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Altrincham can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Altrincham levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Altrincham.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Altrincham state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you fail to have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
• Some Altrincham 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. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 lawyers.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Altrincham home move. If a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £ 325000 garden flat in Altrincham next week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Altrincham?

Altrincham conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes ordinarily involves fees being levied by management companies :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Altrincham
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Altrincham leasehold property is £350. For Altrincham 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 provide answers.

I invested in buying a ground floor flat in Altrincham, conveyancing having been completed in 1998. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Altrincham with over 90 years remaining are worth £251,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2083

With 57 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £23,800 and £27,400 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed 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 move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.