I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years left on my flat in Sawston. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission 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 prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Sawston.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in Sawston.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Sawston which have about fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Sawston. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a 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 extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Sawston with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Sawston can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers solicitors.
• A minority of Sawston leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and frustrates many a Sawston conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £325000 maisonette in Sawston next week. The freeholder has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Sawston?

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

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Sawston
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Sawston leasehold premises is £350. For Sawston 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 obliged to supply answers.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Sawston - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

It is important to be aware if changing the roof or some other major work is due shortly to be shared by the leaseholders and could well dramatically increase the the service costs or necessitate a one off invoice. This question is important as a) areas could result in problems in the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the running of the building you will want to know about it Is there a share of the freehold?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Sawston