Due to complete next month on a leasehold property in Booker. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord

Are pets allowed in the flat?

Repair and maintenance of the flat

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 rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

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

What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Booker please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Booker

I work for a busy estate agent office in Booker where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Booker conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Booker conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Booker conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Booker conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• What volume of lease extensions has the firm completed in Booker in the last 12 months?

Can they put you in touch with client in Booker who can give a testimonial?

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

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Booker can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Booker state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Where you dont have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.

If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Booker conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £450000 garden flat in Booker in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Booker?

Booker conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times results in fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Booker
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Booker leasehold premises is £350. For Booker 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 provide answers.

Booker Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

The majority of Booker leasehold apartments will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building set by the management company. Should you buy the flat you will have to meet this amount, normally quarterly during the year. This can be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a significant sum, say about £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it could be prohibitively expensive. Who are the managing agents? In the main the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Booker ask leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major works.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Booker