Leasehold Conveyancing in Wolviston - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Wolviston, you will need to appoint a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Halifax, RBS or Bradford & Bingley be sure to choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Common questions relating to Wolviston leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Wolviston. Before I get started I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Wolviston - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Wolviston.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

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 unless 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 couple of apartments in Wolviston both have in the region of fifty years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Wolviston. The lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I work for a busy estate agency in Wolviston where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Wolviston conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Wolviston with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Wolviston can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Wolviston state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Should you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.
  • Some Wolviston leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly 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 buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and delays many a Wolviston conveyancing deal. If a new share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

    • I bought a 1st floor flat in Wolviston, conveyancing was carried out in 2001. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent flats in Wolviston with an extended lease are worth £236,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2087

    You have 62 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £21,900 and £25,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Wolviston