Looking forward to complete next month on a basement flat in Booker. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Booker should include some of the following:

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

The physical extent of the demise. This will be the property itself but might incorporate a roof space or cellar if appropriate.

Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease include a right of way over a path or hallways?

Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?

You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Booker please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Booker

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Booker which have approximately forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Booker is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. For most buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than 75 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 Booker 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 They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new 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.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Booker where we have witnessed a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Booker conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 buyer 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Booker from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Booker can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Booker charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Booker.

A minority of Booker leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers 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 reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £250000 apartment in Booker in seven days. The landlords agents has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Booker?

For most leasehold sales in Booker conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Booker
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Booker leasehold premises is £350. For Booker 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 provide the information.

Booker Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be built into the service charges, albeit that a few managing agents in Booker require leasehold owners to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. Many Booker leasehold apartments will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the building set by the management company. Should you buy the property you will have to meet this charge, normally in instalments accross the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to check it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. You should be aware that where the lease has no more than eighty years it will affect the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are content with residual term of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for a couple of years before you are legally able to extend the lease.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Booker