I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Dorchester. Before diving in I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Dorchester - 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.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold flat in Dorchester. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Dorchester who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Dorchester conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Dorchester. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Dorchester where we see a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Dorchester conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence 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 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 has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Dorchester conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Dorchester conveyancing practice) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Dorchester conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be of use:

• How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?

Dorchester Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

How much is the ground rent and service charge? Does the lease have onerous restrictions? Make sure you find out if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. By way of example it is reasonably common in Dorchester leases that pets are not permitted in in a block in Dorchester. If you love the flatin Dorchester however your cat can’t live with you then you will be faced hard compromise.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Dorchester