I only have Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Lisvane. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Lisvane.

I am attracted to a two apartments in Lisvane both have about fifty years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Lisvane. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Lisvane conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Lisvane conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you make enquires with several firms including non Lisvane conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?

What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in Lisvane in the last 12 months?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Lisvane with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Lisvane can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Lisvane charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Lisvane.

Some Lisvane leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unsettled.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £375000 maisonette in Lisvane in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Lisvane?

For most leasehold sales in Lisvane conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Lisvane
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Lisvane leasehold property is £350. For Lisvane 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 supply the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Lisvane - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

This question is important as a) areas could result in problems in the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where services are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the managing agents you will want to know about it Is there a share of the freehold? How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Lisvane