Selling a flat or transferring the ownership of the flat involves completion of a deed of covenant or licence to assign. This requires a nil balance of service charges and ground rent for the half year period in which the sale is completed.

Those leaseholders who normally pay part of the service charge via monthly standing order will need to pre-pay their service charge until the end of September or March, and then recover the relevant pro-rata amount from their purchaser. Castle Court Freehold Limited and its Managing Agents do not get involved with pro-rata calculations between vendors & purchasers.

Deeds of covenant and licences to assign are dealt with by Castle Court Freehold Limited:

Liz Mahoney, Chairman, Castle Court Freehold Limited,

Castle Court Office, Castle Court, Westgate Street, Cardiff CF10 1DB.

Email: Liz@castlecourtfreeholdlimited.co.uk

Vendors' solicitors should contact Castle Court Freehold Limited in good time to arrange completion of deeds of covenants or licences to assign, and confirm the intended completion date, as deeds or licences need to to be sent to purchasers' solicitors for purchasers to sign and return etc.

Deeds and licences are dealt with in duplicate rather than in counterpart.

Most of the leases at Castle Court contain an RX1 restriction requiring a Certificate of Compliance to be issued by Castle Court Freehold Limited confirming that the deed of covenant has been correctly completed. The Certificate of Compliance is necessary prior to completion of Land Registry formalities.

Castle Court Freehold Limited's standard fee for completing the deed of covenant / licence to assign applicable to the relevant lease, and issuing a Compliance Certificate if required, is £475.

This fee is subject to Castle Court Freehold Limited receiving the Deed completion / licence completion fee and the signed Deed / Licence within 7 days of sale completion.

If Castle Court Freehold Limited has to chase solicitors / conveyancers / purchasers / vendors 7 days after sale completion for standard completion fees / signed Deeds / Licences then there will be an additional fee of £100.

Castle Court Freehold Limited is happy to provide bank account details to solicitors / conveyancers acting for vendors / purchasers so that fees can be paid electronically within 7 days of completion.

As long as the Deed / licence fees are received by Castle Court Freehold Limited within 7 days of completion, then Castle Court Freehold Limited would accept email scans of completed Deeds / Licences within the 7 day completion deadline and would not seek any additonal costs in the event that the signed orignal Deeds / Licences are not delivered by Royal Mail within 7 days of completion but have to be re-signed and re-sent / re-delivered more than 7 days after completion.

Prior to the completion of a deed of covenant or licence to assign, there needs to be a nil balance of service charges and ground rent for the half year period in which the sale is completed.