I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed flat in Henlow.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Henlow which have approximately forty five years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Henlow. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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).

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Henlow where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Henlow conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser 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 prior to, 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.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £175000 apartment in Henlow in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Henlow?

Henlow conveyancing on leasehold apartments ordinarily necessitates fees being levied by freeholders :

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Henlow
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Henlow leasehold premises is £350. For Henlow 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.

I acquired a basement flat in Henlow, conveyancing formalities finalised 2011. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar properties in Henlow with an extended lease are worth £223,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2104

You have 80 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Henlow