Due to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in City Of London. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the property, or working from home

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in City Of London please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in City Of London

I’m about to sell my 2 bed flat in City Of London.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you discharge the invoice 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 today plan to offer on a house that seems to meet my requirements, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have just discovered that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in City Of London. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in City Of London are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in City Of London so you should seriously consider shopping around for a City Of London conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in advising on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the freeholder’spermission to carry out alterations. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the estate where the house is part of an estate. Your lawyer should advise you fully on all the issues.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in City Of London from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in City Of London can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in City Of London state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.

A minority of City Of London leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat 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 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 better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £500000 flat in City Of London in nine days. The management company has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in City Of London?

City Of London conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times necessitates administration charges levied by management companies :

• Answering pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in City Of London
• 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 City Of London leasehold property is £350. For City Of London 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 supply the information.

City Of London Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

For many City Of London leaseholds the cost for major works tend not to be included within service charges, albeit that there some managing agents in City Of London require leasehold owners to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major works. Please tell me if there are any major works in the near future that could add a premium to the service costs? Who are the managing agents?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in City Of London