I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to meet my requirements, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just found out that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Ely. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Ely ?

Most houses in Ely are freehold rather than 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 clear that you are buying in Ely so you should seriously consider looking for a Ely conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the freeholder’spermission to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer should advise you fully on all the issues.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Ely where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Ely conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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 are your top tips when it comes to finding a Ely conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Ely conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Ely conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• Can they put you in touch with client in Ely who can give a testimonial?
• What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Ely from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Ely can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Ely levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Ely.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Ely leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you dont have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to 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 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.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 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 premises on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £ 350000 maisonette in Ely on Wednesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Ely?

Ely conveyancing on leasehold flats usually involves administration charges invoiced by freeholders :

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Ely
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Ely leasehold property is £350. For Ely 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 supply the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Ely - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Most Ely leasehold flats will have a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the management company. If you purchase the apartment you will have to pay this amount, usually periodically accross the year. This may be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, ordinarily this is not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to check it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. It is important to be aware if window replacement or some other major work is coming up to be shared by the tenants and will dramatically impact the level of the maintenance costs or require a one off invoice.