You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Planning to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Acocks Green. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Acocks Green should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
• You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Acocks Green please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Acocks Green

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Acocks Green both have about fifty years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As the lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I work for a long established estate agency in Acocks Green where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Acocks Green conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Acocks Green from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Acocks Green can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Acocks Green levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Acocks Green.
• A minority of Acocks Green leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Acocks Green home move. If a reissued share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £ 325000 flat in Acocks Green in six days. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Acocks Green?

Acocks Green conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically results in fees being invoiced by management companies :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Acocks Green
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Acocks Green leasehold premises is £350. For Acocks Green 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 obliged to supply answers.

I inherited a leasehold flat in Acocks Green, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent properties in Acocks Green with an extended lease are worth £260,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2100

You have 74 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £11,400 and £13,200 plus costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.