Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Barnehurst

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Barnehurst, you will need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Santander, RBS or Nationwide be sure to find a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Common questions relating to Barnehurst leasehold conveyancing

I am intending to let out my leasehold apartment in Barnehurst. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your previous Barnehurst conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Barnehurst. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Barnehurst.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Barnehurst. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
  • Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
  • Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the flat, or working from home
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Barnehurst please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Barnehurst

    • Back In 2003, I bought a leasehold flat in Barnehurst. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Barnehurst who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

    The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Barnehurst conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, 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 Barnehurst from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Barnehurst can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
    • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Barnehurst leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.
  • Some Barnehurst leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy formality and slows down many a Barnehurst home move. If a new share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

    • Notwithstanding our best endeavours, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in Barnehurst. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

    Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Barnehurst conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Barnehurst flat is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Barnehurst