Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Grays

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Grays, you will need to chose a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Santander, Yorkshire Building Society or Nationwide make sure you find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Sample questions relating to Grays leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Grays. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Grays - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I have recently realised that I have 62 years unexpired on my lease in Grays. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Grays.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Grays. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

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

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Grays can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
  • The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Grays charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for 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 usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Grays.
  • A minority of Grays leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore essential 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 home on the market for sale.

    • Completion in due on our sale of a £300000 garden flat in Grays next Monday . The management company has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Grays?

    Grays conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not involves the buyer’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries the majority will be willing to assist. They are at liberty charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has no option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

    Following months of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Grays. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to judgment on the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Grays premises 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 related to 13 flats. The unexpired term was 76 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Grays