I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Callington. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and most are in Callington - 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.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Callington. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Callington should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I have just started marketing my ground floor apartment in Callington.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay 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 managing agents 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 own a leasehold house in Callington. Conveyancing and Bank of Scotland mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Callington who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Callington conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website 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 Callington where we see a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Callington conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

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. The benefit of this is 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 has to be done prior to, 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 buyer.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Callington - A selection of Questions you should ask before buying

It is important to be aware whether window replacement or some other significant cost is due in the foreseeable future that will be shared between the tenants and may well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance charges or result in a specific invoice. The prefered form of lease structure is where the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the tenants have control and even though a managing agent is frequently retained where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Where a Callington lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are content with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. For most Callingtonlease extensions you would be required to have owned the residence for a couple of years in order to be eligible to exercise a lease extension.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Callington