My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Battle. Conveyancing and Bank of Ireland mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Battle who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Battle conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Battle both have in the region of forty five years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the saleability of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Battle where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Battle conveyancing firms. 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 buyer.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Battle from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Battle can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Battle leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you fail to have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in advance.

We expect to complete the sale of our £300000 flat in Battle in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Battle?

Battle conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not requires the purchaser’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be content to do so. They may charge a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it exceeds £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has no option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

I own a split level flat in Battle, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Battle with a long lease are worth £212,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 2092

With just 68 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £11,400 and £13,200 plus costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

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Lease Extensions in Battle