What is in a lease?

puk999

My mum passed away earlier this year and I've just engaged an estate agent to market the flat she owned.

The agents are asking me about what ground rent and service charges are payable. I've emailed the freeholder who has answered the ground rent question but it's just an email, not a legal document.

I still have the outstanding question about service charges. By this (I think) I mean charge for cutting communal grass, etc. I know I could knock on neighbours' doors asking them about service charges, but what would be the most rock-solid way of obtaining this information?

Would both the ground rent and service charge information be detailed in the lease? I see from here I can get the lease from land registry or mortgage company (Nationwide).

eddddy

Service charges are variable, so they won't be stated in the lease.

Your mum will have got a regular service charge bill - maybe every 6 months or every year.

You need to look at a recent bill to find out what the current service charge is.

If the freeholders are helpful, you could ask them for a copy of the last bill (or maybe even the last few bills).

You could ask a neighbour for a copy of their bill, but if the neighbour's flat is bigger/smaller than your mums, it's very possible that they will have a bigger/small bill than your mum's.

quantumlobster

Ask the solicitor you've engaged to do the conveyancing.

eddddy

Just to add...

puk999 wrote: »

The agents are asking me about what ground rent and service charges are payable. I've emailed the freeholder who has answered the ground rent question but it's just an email, not a legal document.

You don't need a legal document - you can just pass the info to the estate agent. (Hopefully, it's correct, but you will not have any liability if it's wrong - but a buyer might be a bit annoyed.)

Similarly, if you can't get service charge information - it's not 'the end of the world' - the estatge agent can still market the property. But it might just be a bit annoying for a buyer.

quantumlobster wrote: »

Ask the solicitor you've engaged to do the conveyancing.

I wouldn't do this ...and you probably haven't engaged a solicitor yet anyway. And it's not sensible to pay a solicitor to do this at this stage.

puk999

eddddy wrote: »

Service charges are variable, so they won't be stated in the lease.

Your mum will have got a regular service charge bill - maybe every 6 months or every year.

You need to look at a recent bill to find out what the current service charge is.

If the freeholders are helpful, you could ask them for a copy of the last bill (or maybe even the last few bills).

You could ask a neighbour for a copy of their bill, but if the neighbour's flat is bigger/smaller than your mums, it's very possible that they will have a bigger/small bill than your mum's.

I asked the freeholder about the ground rent who replied that the lease provides a ground rent charge but "in practice the ground rent does not get paid" and that they'd be happy to sign a solicitor-prepared declaration to that effect.

Regarding service charges, would the freeholder know about this too? These charges would be paid to a management company, correct? I wish I asked the freeholder for any knowledge of this when querying about ground rent! Not sure why, but I don't want to badger him too much.

I'll liaise with sister who might have bills we could go through, though she swears blind she's unaware of any service charge, and she was POA for a year or two. I'll also ask neighbours in the same block what they do as they must surely have to pay the same management company?

eddddy

Service Charges cover the cost of insuring the building, repairing/maintaining the building, doing the gardening etc. How did your mum pay for those things?

Technically, you pay service charges to the freeholder.

But many freeholders can't be bothered with the hassle, so they ask a management company to deal with it for them.


(But as I say, you can just tell the estate agent that you can't track down the service charge info - it shouldn't be a big deal.)

puk999

My mum was in there from November 2009. I'm not aware of what maintenance/repairs were done in that time. My sister said a neighbour cut what little grass there was. Good question about insurance. I think I need to collect all the other paperwork and have a rummage through.

I might give the freeholder a call and ask him whether he or a management company deals with the servicing of the flat.

I'll update this thread with what I find out. Thanks for your help so far :beer:

Tom99

See if the Land Reg have a copy of the lease. Then if you don't understand a particular clause post the full actual wording of the clause here and someone will help you.

G_M

And don't fret too much. The EA can market without this info.


During the buying process, as part of the conveyancing process, this will all be verified and confirmed formally.


Service charges are not necessarily based just on what is spent-sometimes there is a regular contribution to a contingency fund so that when a big bill comes along (repainting the exterior, re-roofing etc) the money is already there - this means leaseholders don't have to suddenly find all the money at once

System

I need to join this forum, but cannot find how to create a post. Can someone please help. I need urgent advice with regard the purchase I have made of a property and the all professional parties in the sale have made mistakes.

Thanks
Deb

Tom99

Deb_Moore wrote: »

I need to join this forum, but cannot find how to create a post. Can someone please help. I need urgent advice with regard the purchase I have made of a property and the all professional parties in the sale have made mistakes.
Thanks
Deb

Go here...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=16

Then click New Thread at top left