Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Ardleigh Green. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Ardleigh Green - 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.

Frank (my husband) and I may need to let out our Ardleigh Green basement flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Ardleigh Green conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Ardleigh Green do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Ardleigh Green which have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Ardleigh Green with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ardleigh Green can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Ardleigh Green leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Should you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.
• A minority of Ardleigh Green leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Ardleigh Green home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £ 450000 flat in Ardleigh Green next Thursday . The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Ardleigh Green?

Ardleigh Green conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times involves fees being invoiced by freeholders :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Ardleigh Green
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Ardleigh Green leasehold property is £350. For Ardleigh Green 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.

After years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Ardleigh Green. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Ardleigh Green property is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 57.5 years.

I purchased a garden flat in Ardleigh Green, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent properties in Ardleigh Green with a long lease are worth £193,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease finishes on 21st October 2076

You have 50 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £35,200 and £40,600 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.