I’m about to sell my basement apartment in Benfleet.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Benfleet. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Benfleet who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Benfleet conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Benfleet where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Benfleet conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Benfleet conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Benfleet conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Benfleet conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?

What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £500000 maisonette in Benfleet next week. The management company has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Benfleet?

Benfleet conveyancing on leasehold flats ordinarily results in administration charges raised by freeholders :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Benfleet
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Benfleet leasehold property is £350. For Benfleet 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 required to provide the information.

I am the registered owner of a 2 bed flat in Benfleet, conveyancing having been completed 2004. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar flats in Benfleet with over 90 years remaining are worth £170,000. The ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2083

With 59 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £20,900 and £24,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Benfleet