My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Shaftesbury. Conveyancing and Clydesdale mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Shaftesbury who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Shaftesbury conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Shaftesbury which have approximately forty five years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Shaftesbury. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable 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 enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Shaftesbury. 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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Shaftesbury from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Shaftesbury can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Shaftesbury levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Shaftesbury.

What makes a Shaftesbury lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Shaftesbury. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• 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 as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, The Mortgage Works, and Nottingham Building Society all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Shaftesbury Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

Most Shaftesbury leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Where you purchase the property you will have to meet this contribution, normally quarterly during the year. This could be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common grounds. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, this is usually not a significant amount, say about £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because occasionally it could be prohibitively expensive. If a Shaftesbury lease has less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably require a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. For most Shaftesburylease extensions you will need to own the residence for 24 months before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension. The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the tenants enjoy control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Shaftesbury