Leasehold extensions are you eligible and brief summery of process

 

Leasehold extensions are you eligible and brief summery of process

Qualification

To qualify as a leaseholder and be eligible to have a lease extended

The main thing to be a qualifying leaseholder is to have owned a long lease for at least 2 years, the definition of a long lease is one that had a term of at least 21 years when it was originally granted. What is left on the lease is not what’s important its how long was on the lease when it was granted that must of been a minimum of 21 years.

If you meet the above criteria but you fall into any of the 2 categories below

1. The landlord is a charitable housing trust and the flat is provided as part of the Charitable work.

2. It is a business or commercial lease

Starting the process

Instructing professional advisers

For a successful application, we recommend that you appoint a valuer and a solicitor. As well as being able to offer general advice, their roles include the following.

Valuer

• Providing the ‘best and worst’ case valuation, so they can tell you the possible outcome of the negotiations.
• Advising you on how much to offer in the notice.
• Responding to the notice the landlord sends in response to your notice (the landlord’s counter-notice).
• Negotiating and settling the price and other terms of the lease, including representing you at the tribunal.

Solicitor

• Preparing information for your application.
• Serving the notice on the competent landlord and giving any other landlords copies of the notice.
• Responding to the landlord’s requests for information to support your claim.
• Dealing with the legal process involved in buying the new lease (conveyancing).

 

 

 

Important steps for selling your home part 4

 

Should I buy and sell at the same time?

 

Unless you're a first-time buyer, one of the key decisions you need to make is whether to try and sell and buy at the same time. If you do this, you risk ending up in a chain, which can slow things down considerably.

Here are some tips on how to stop a property chain collapsing.

The alternative is to rent for a period while you sell, but before going down this route, you need to weigh up the pros and cons.

Renting will make the sales process easier as you won’t have to contend with the complications of being in a chain, but it could be costly.

Do I need a property survey?

 

Most people are familiar with the concept of getting a survey carried out on a property they are looking to buy.

But commissioning a survey on your own property before putting it on the market could also be a good idea.

Bear in mind this doesn't always need to be a full-blown HomeBuyer Report or Building Survey. You may be able to get cheaper surveys carried out just to investigate a specific problem.

Here's a host of scenarios where some type of survey could be worth the money.

·         You suspect Japanese Knotweed

Japanese Knotweed is an extremely fast-growing and destructive plant which can damage house foundations, drainage systems and walls. Bad cases of it can leave your home essentially un-mortgageable.

If you suspect its existence on or near your property, get a professional survey done. Costs start at around £240 plus VAT.

Find out more with our Japanese Knotweed Q&A.

·         There are signs of subsidence

Cracks in your walls, typically those that are more than 3mm wide and larger at the top of the wall, could be a sign of subsidence which occurs when the ground below your property moves and affects its stability.

Over time, this can cause serious structural damage.

Many insurance companies will refuse to insure a property with subsidence – making it a major turn-off for potential buyers.

In this case a full Building Survey, which could cost between £600 and £1,000, could be worth the money. If it turns up a subsidence problem, you may want to look at ways to deal with the issue, such as underpinning, before putting your home up for sale.

Note, however, that fixing the problem can be a long and costly process.

·         You can see or smell damp

If you’ve got the odd damp patch on the ceiling or if there is a musty smell in your home, this could be an indication of a wider damp problem. A damp proofing expert can come and take a look for as little as £100.

Some forms of damp can be easily and cheaply fixed, while others can be costly to put right. For example, a damp course for an average three-bedroom house could cost around £4,000.

But it's better to find out yourself that you have a major damp problem before it is uncovered by a potential buyer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important steps for selling your home part 3

 

What signs to look for in a buyer

When selling you will probably get your fair share of time wasters or tyre kickers as they are sometimes called. These will be people who arrange viewings and are not entirely ready to move or in some circumstances just like going on property viewings as a hobby with no intention of ever making an offer on your property. If you are going through an agent that is established is they do usually have a way of filtering a certain degree of time wasters if it is a home mover they will make enquiries if the potential buyer has their current property up for sale if not why they haven’t yet marketed their current property and offer to market it for them a time wasters won’t have a good answer if it is not up for sale. Also the agent will ask for proof of funding in most circumstances, is the whole home move going to be funded by the sale off the existing property or is a mortgage involved to top up the amount needed if so can they provide a certificate of an approval in principal, the same for first time buyers but the agent will ask for if cash buyer proof of funding 6 months bank statements showing the right amount of money in an account. For first time buyers using a mortgage they will ask to see a certificate for approval in principle and proof of deposit as per the amount on the certificate. If you are selling privately you can asked for all this info to be provided by email before arranging a viewing with the potential buyer.

Once the potential buyer has had the above filtering then you at least have a buyer with the means to buy your property, the next thing to look for is a viewer that ask questions about the property with interest and starts probing on timescales that you intend to move by, they might even offer insight into how quickly they want to move and so on this is a good sign off a serious potential buyer. Also you do get viewers who are serious who like to keep their cards close to their chest and won’t offer much at all in the way off communication this is to give them more power when making an offer, if they have shown too much interest then you will have an edge in negotiations. The best situation is 2 plus interested buyers then you have the upper hand on negotiations as you can play them off against each other and achieve the desired price.

If it isn’t first time buyer another thing to investigate is the possibility of a long chain below them , this will add to any chain you will have above when purchasing , so it’s worth finding out the circumstances of the buyer when offers come in , it is ideal if the buyer has already sold their own property and to a first time buyer that has been verified . A buyer that puts an offer that hasn’t sold their own property is something that should only be considered if it’s a last resort or you are in no hurry yourself. The shorter the chain the easier it is when trying to get contracts exchanged and then completed, a buyer with nothing to sell especially a cash buyer is ideal.

If the chain could be potentially long then get your agent to do some research on the chain to make sure there isn’t any weak links, if there are then wait for a buyer in a better position if you can as it could all collapse at the last minute due to someone in the chain not having a mortgage and having to pull out in the final hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important steps for selling your home part 2

 

Instruct a solicitor

As you get nearer to putting the house on the market it would be good to start lining up a good conveyancer, if you have a relative or friend who has used a good solicitor going with a recommendation is advisable, if not then it is a good idea to do some research by looking on review sites like Trust pilot or other sites the discuss conveyancer’s that is not biased. This is due to the fact that so many conveyancers’s have a very poor track record and could ruin the sale or not get it completed correctly as a lot of work goes on after the sale is completed like changing records and land registry and errors here can cause ongoing issues months or years after the sale completes . Also as its one of the most important that you can do financially for most people so getting stressed by a poor conveyancer only adds to the grief. It’s worth balancing service with price as you usually get what you pay for and trying to find the cheapest conveyancer could end up costing your more money than what you save in errors with the sale.

Prepare early for the move

Packing the house up is a big task especially if your work is busy and the sale could happen a lot quicker than expected so it’s advisable to start boxing up anything that isn’t needed on a day to day basis so that you get packed away as much as possible before the day of the move, it will be worth it as the time it will save nearer the move will be welcomed. Some people rent storage and get as much of their possession into storage a month or 2 before the Move this can work but is more costly and at some point you will have to get the stuff out of storage so in fact you are just delaying the pain of moving boxes. You also need to shop around for a removal company that is reliable and can move you at relatively short notice as some times the sale might happen very quick and you need to be able to give a removal company relatively short notice . Alternatively you can do the move yourself by renting a van or small truck and buying boxes online, this means you can usually do this on a far shorter notice period as renting a vehicle can be done the same day.