Planning to exchange soon on a basement flat in Barbican. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• 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
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Barbican. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Barbican are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Barbican in which case you should be shopping around for a Barbican conveyancing practitioner and check that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the landlord’spermission to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the house is located on an estate. Your lawyer will advise you fully on all the issues.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Barbican. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Barbican who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Barbican conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Barbican from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Barbican can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Barbican levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Barbican.
• Some Barbican leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Barbican home move. Where a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

Following years of correspondence we are unable to 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?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Barbican conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Barbican premises 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 unexpired term was 72.39 years.

What makes a Barbican lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Barbican. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• 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. National Westminster Bank, Leeds Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have very detailed 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.

I purchased a basement flat in Barbican, conveyancing formalities finalised 9 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Barbican with a long lease are worth £240,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 per annum. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2082

With only 56 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £30,400 and £35,200 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.