There are only 68 years left on my flat in Birkenhead. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Birkenhead.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Birkenhead both have in the region of fifty years remaining on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Birkenhead is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat 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 property 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 Birkenhead 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Birkenhead from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Birkenhead can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Birkenhead state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Should you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.

A minority of Birkenhead 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 financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly 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 have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Birkenhead conveyancing deal. If a duplicate share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £175000 garden flat in Birkenhead in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Birkenhead?

Birkenhead conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times necessitates fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Birkenhead
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Birkenhead leasehold premises is £350. For Birkenhead 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 obliged to supply answers.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Birkenhead what are the most frequent lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Birkenhead. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You may encounter 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. National Westminster Bank, Barnsley Building Society, and Clydesdale all have express requirements 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, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Birkenhead Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before Purchasing

Who takes charge for maintaining and repairing the building? Is there a share of the freehold? It would be wise to discover as much as possible concerning the company managing the building as they will impact your use and enjoyment of the property. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to practical issues such as the cleanliness of the communal areas. Enquire of other tenants if they are happy with their service. On a final note, be sure you know the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the relevant party and precisely how they are spending that money.

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Lease Extensions in Birkenhead