My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Belmont. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Belmont who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Belmont conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Belmont where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Belmont conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Belmont from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Belmont can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Belmont leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £150000 garden flat in Belmont in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Belmont?

Belmont conveyancing on leasehold flats often necessitates the buyer’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address these enquiries the majority will be content to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without success. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a Belmont conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Belmont conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Belmont residence is 33 The Maisonettes Alberta Avenue in June 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of a new lease be the sum of £20,680 (Twenty Thousand six hundred and eighty pounds). This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 60.43 years.

What makes a Belmont lease unmortgageable?

Leasehold conveyancing in Belmont is not unique. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• 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

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Skipton Building Society, and TSB all have express 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 provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.