I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Laindon. Before I get started I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Laindon - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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 only have 68 years unexpired on my lease in Laindon. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Laindon.

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold house in Laindon. Conveyancing and Britannia mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Laindon who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Laindon conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Laindon from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Laindon can be reduced if you get in touch 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 representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Laindon levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. 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 reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Laindon.

Some Laindon leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 solicitors.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £450000 apartment in Laindon next Friday . The freeholder has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Laindon?

Laindon conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually results in fees being raised by managing agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Laindon
• 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 Laindon leasehold premises is £350. For Laindon 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 purchased a studio flat in Laindon, conveyancing having been completed 6 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable properties in Laindon with an extended lease are worth £227,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease ceases on 21st October 2090

With 68 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £12,400 and £14,200 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Laindon