Recently asked questions relating to Alperton leasehold conveyancing
My husband and I may need to rent out our Alperton 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Alperton conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?
Even though your previous Alperton conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.
I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Alperton.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is 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've recently bought a leasehold property in Alperton. 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 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).
I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Alperton where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Alperton conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
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.
I am the leaseholder of a a ground floor purpose built flat in Alperton. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for a lease extension?
if there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Alperton property 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 affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 28.42 years.
What makes a Alperton lease defective?
There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Alperton. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:
- Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
- A duty to insure the building
- Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
- Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage
A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Lloyds TSB Bank, Barnsley Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester 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 problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.
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