Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Ashton. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Ashton - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Ashton. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Ashton.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in Ashton.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

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

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold flat in Ashton. Conveyancing and National Westminster Bank mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Ashton who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Ashton conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Ashton where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Ashton conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

Ashton Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

How is the lease structured? Plenty Ashton leasehold properties will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced on behalf of the management company. Should you buy the flat you will have to meet this liability, usually periodically throughout the year. This can differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a large sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to enquire as occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. Best to be warned whether fixing the lift or some other significant cost is coming up that will be shared amongst the leasehold owners and could well dramatically increase the the service fees or require a specific invoice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Ashton