Expecting to exchange soon on a garden flat in Barkingside. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Barkingside should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Barkingside.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is clear 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 managing agents 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.

Back In 2003, I bought a leasehold house in Barkingside. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Barkingside who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

First contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Barkingside conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I work for a busy estate agency in Barkingside where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Barkingside conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 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 disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

I own a ground-floor 1960’s flat in Barkingside. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for a lease extension?

Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to judgment on the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Barkingside residence is 104 Coventry Road in July 2014. The Tribunal determined that the lease extension permium should be £22,896.15 This case related to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 60.29 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Barkingside what are the most common lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Barkingside is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Barkingside