I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Alperton both have in the region of 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Alperton. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation 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. 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).

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Alperton where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Alperton conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Alperton with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Alperton can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Alperton leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you dont have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.

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

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Alperton conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Alperton flat is 99 Connell Crescent in May 2013. the Tribunal held that the relevant sum for the purposes of the lease extension should be £72,566 to be paid by the leaseholder This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 28.42 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Alperton what are the most common lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Alperton is not unique. All leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Barclays , The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have express conveyancing instructions 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, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Alperton