Leasehold Sales and Purchases

Selling or buying a leasehold property involves additional legal work before exchange and completion. A brief summary of this work is set out below.

Leasehold Sales

When selling a leasehold property, in addition to the work that is involved in a freehold sale, we will have to get a copy of the lease and the freehold title and your Landlord, Managing Agents, Management Companies and Residents' Associations (as applicable) to supply information relating to ground rent, service charges, maintenance etc.

It is likely the buyer's solicitor will raise additional enquiries that you will able to answer but some which will have to be answered by your Landlord or it's Managing Agents adding additional time to the process. In order to speed the process up you may wish to contact your Landlord or Managing Agent directly and ask them to prepare the management pack for which they are likely to charge a fee.

Depending upon the terms of the lease you may also have to obtain a licence to assign from the Landlord and require that the Buyer enters into a deed of covenant with the Landlord to observe the terms of the Lease.

Upon completion we will ensure that we recover the ground rent and service charges that you have paid relating to the period after you have sold the property.

Leasehold Purchases

Once we receive all of the papers from the Seller's solicitors, including the management pack we will then be able to advise you fully on the obligations contained in the lease and the likely ground rent and service charges that you will have to pay in the next few years. The pack will reveal whether or not the Landlord has served notices stating that it intends to carry out major works and, if so, what the estimated cost of those works is. You will then be able to make an informed decision on whether or not to go ahead with the purchase.

We will also tell you whether or not you need to enter into a direct deed of covenant with the Landlord to observe the terms of the Lease. In addition, we will consider the service charge accounts and may ask the Seller's solicitor to keep a sum back from the sales proceeds (a retention) to cover service charges that may be applicable to the Seller's period of occupation.

After completion we will serve notices on the Landlord or its Managing Agent telling them that you have bought the property and who your lender is if you have one.

To find out more or for a free no obligation quotation, contact us today on 01603 693500 or email us using 'Make an enquiry' form. Appointments available at our Norwich, North Walsham and Sheringham offices.