Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Dartmouth. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Dartmouth - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

I would like to rent out my leasehold flat in Dartmouth. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

A lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will set out if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Dartmouth do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

There are only 68 years unexpired on my lease in Dartmouth. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Dartmouth.

I’m about to sell my 2 bed apartment in Dartmouth.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you 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 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.

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Dartmouth where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Dartmouth conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process 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 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with 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.

Dartmouth Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

How is the lease structured? What is the length of the lease? Plenty Dartmouth leasehold flats will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the block levied by the freeholder. Where you buy the flat you will have to meet this contribution, usually quarterly throughout the year. This can differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a significant amount, say around £50-£100 but you need to enquire as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Dartmouth