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Leasehold conveyancing in Barbican is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Barbican and next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Barbican leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Looking forward to complete next month on a studio apartment in Barbican. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Barbican should include some of the following:

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
  • Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
  • Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or having a home office for business
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Barbican please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Barbican

    • I’m about to sell my basement apartment in Barbican.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

    Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

    I work for a reputable estate agency in Barbican where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Barbican conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

    Provided that 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 can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

    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 buyer.

    Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Barbican from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

    • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Barbican can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
    • Many landlords or managing agents in Barbican levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Barbican.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Barbican state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you dont have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Barbican conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
  • 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 buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • Following years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Barbican. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Barbican flat is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case related to 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 72.39 years.

    What makes a Barbican lease problematic?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Barbican is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
    • 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 will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Chelsea Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Barbican