Anerley leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Anerley. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Anerley - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.
Jane (my partner) and I may need to sub-let our Anerley ground floor flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a Anerley conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?
Notwithstanding that your last Anerley conveyancing solicitor is not available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.
I have just started marketing my garden flat in Anerley.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
It best that you pay the invoice 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Anerley where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Anerley conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.
Completion in due on the disposal of our £425000 garden flat in Anerley next Friday . The landlords agents has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Anerley?
Anerley conveyancing on leasehold flats normally involves the purchaser’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address such questions most will be willing to assist. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is in excess of £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to sell the property.
After months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Anerley. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
if there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement 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 LVT to decide the price.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Anerley property is Flats 55, 67 & 70 Melbourne Court Anerley Road in July 2013. The tribunal calculated that the premium for the extended lease at £48,366.00 for at 55, and £88,329.00 for ats 67 and 70 combined. This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 26.38 years.
Other Topics