Leasehold Conveyancing in Bethnal Green - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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While any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Bethnal Green, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Questions and Answers: Bethnal Green leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Bethnal Green. Before I get started I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Bethnal Green - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I am intending to let out my leasehold apartment in Bethnal Green. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

Even though your last Bethnal Green conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Bethnal Green. Conveyancing lawyers assured 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 Bethnal Green should include some of the following:

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Are pets allowed in the flat?
  • Does the lease prevent you from subletting the flat, or having a home office for business
  • You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • 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 For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Bethnal Green please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Bethnal Green

    • I’m about to sell my garden apartment in Bethnal Green.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

    The sensible thing to do is 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 management companies 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.

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bethnal Green from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bethnal Green can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Bethnal Green state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you dont have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.
  • A minority of Bethnal Green 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 obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to 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 prior to 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 better to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 80 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.

    • After years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Bethnal Green. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

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

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Bethnal Green flat 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 was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 72.39 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Bethnal Green