Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Pangbourne. Before I get started I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

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

There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Pangbourne. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search 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 conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Pangbourne.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Pangbourne. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Pangbourne.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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 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 am looking at a two maisonettes in Pangbourne which have about fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Pangbourne is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the salability of the property. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Pangbourne conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Pangbourne Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Plenty Pangbourne leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Should you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this charge, normally in instalments throughout the year. This can vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it could be prohibitively expensive. Are there any major works on the horizon that will increase the service charges? You should want to find out as much as you can about the managing agents as they can either make your living at the property much easier or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you are often in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to practical issues such as the tidiness of the communal areas. You should not be shy to ask other people what they think of their service. Finally, be sure you understand the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and precisely how they are spending the funds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Pangbourne