I own a leasehold flat in Kings Norton. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Kings Norton who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

First contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Kings Norton conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Kings Norton. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Kings Norton with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kings Norton can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Kings Norton charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought 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 reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kings Norton.
• A minority of Kings Norton 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 put in hand 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 buyers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Kings Norton home move. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

We expect to complete the sale of our £ 450000 flat in Kings Norton in six days. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Kings Norton?

Kings Norton conveyancing on leasehold apartments typically necessitates fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Kings Norton
• 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 Kings Norton leasehold property is £350. For Kings Norton 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.

Are there frequently found deficiencies that you see in leases for Kings Norton properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Kings Norton is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Barclays , Chelsea Building Society, and Barclays Direct all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

I own a garden flat in Kings Norton, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Kings Norton with over 90 years remaining are worth £265,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2094

You have 68 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £15,200 and £17,600 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.