I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Yate. Before diving in I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

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

My wife and I may need to rent out our Yate ground floor flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Yate conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

A lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Yate do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the property. Instead, there is usually a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

Back In 2002, I bought a leasehold house in Yate. Conveyancing and Virgin Money mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Yate who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry 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 Yate conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

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

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Yate can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Yate charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. 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 obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Yate.

Some Yate leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The 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 buyers or their lawyers.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy formality and delays many a Yate home move. If a new share is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £500000 flat in Yate next Tuesday . The landlords agents has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Yate?

Yate conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times involves administration charges levied by managing agents :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Yate
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Yate leasehold premises is £350. For Yate 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 answers.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Yate - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Best to be warned whether redecorating or some other major work is pending to be shared by the leasehold owners and will dramatically increase the the service charges or necessitate a specific payment. How long is the Lease? If a Yate lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the property. Check with your lender that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the property for 24 months in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Yate