Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Belmont. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

The total extent of the property. This will be the flat itself but might include a roof space or basement if appropriate.

You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

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. For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Belmont please enquire of your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Belmont

I’m about to sell my 2 bed flat in Belmont.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you pay 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 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Back In 2004, I bought a leasehold flat in Belmont. Conveyancing and HSBC Bank mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Belmont who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Belmont conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful 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 Belmont from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Belmont can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Belmont charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Belmont.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Belmont conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £200000 apartment in Belmont on Monday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Belmont?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Belmont conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Belmont
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Belmont leasehold premises is £350. For Belmont conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide answers.

I am the leaseholder of a two-bedroom flat in Belmont. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium payable for a lease extension?

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

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Belmont flat 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 the unexpired residue of the current lease was 60.43 years.