Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Chafford Hundred:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Chafford Hundred, you will need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Lloyds, RBS or Nationwide be sure to find a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Chafford Hundred leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Chafford Hundred.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until 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.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Chafford Hundred which have about 50 years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Chafford Hundred. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. 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 protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Chafford Hundred where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Chafford Hundred conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 commence 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 needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 advice for leasehold conveyancing in Chafford Hundred with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Chafford Hundred can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Chafford Hundred charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. 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 accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Chafford Hundred.
  • Some Chafford Hundred leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (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 buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Chafford Hundred conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

    • All being well we will complete the sale of our £425000 maisonette in Chafford Hundred in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Chafford Hundred?

    Chafford Hundred conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not requires the purchaser’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the charge is technically not due. In reality one has no choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

    Following years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Chafford Hundred. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Chafford Hundred conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Chafford Hundred residence is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 76 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Chafford Hundred