You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Planning to complete next month on a studio apartment in Exmouth. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Exmouth please enquire of your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Exmouth

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Exmouth both have about fifty years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Exmouth. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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 be sure 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).

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £ 200000 maisonette in Exmouth in just under a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Exmouth?

Exmouth conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times results in administration charges raised by freeholders :

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Exmouth
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Exmouth leasehold property is £350. For Exmouth 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 required to provide the information.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Exmouth what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Exmouth is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

I own a split level flat in Exmouth, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Equivalent flats in Exmouth with over 90 years remaining are worth £235,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 levied per year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2081

With 55 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £29,500 and £34,000 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.