Planning to complete next month on a garden flat in Kelsall. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord

I’m about to sell my 2 bed flat in Kelsall.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge the invoice 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 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am looking at a two maisonettes in Kelsall which have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is 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 seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I work for a reputable estate agency in Kelsall where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Kelsall conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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 buyer 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Kelsall what are the most frequent lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Kelsall. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease can 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 Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express 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 grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Kelsall - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Plenty Kelsall leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the management company. Should you purchase the flat you will have to meet this liability, normally periodically throughout the year. This could differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say around £25-£75 but you should to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. What is the service charge and ground rent on the property? Its a good idea to discover as much as possible regarding the managing agents as they can either make living at the property much simpler or uncomfortable. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are often at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day matters such as the cleanliness of the communal areas. Ask prospective neighbours what they think of their service. In conclusion, be sure you discover the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the relevant party and precisely how they are spending that money.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Kelsall