Top Five Questions relating to Biggin Hill leasehold conveyancing
Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Biggin Hill. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Biggin Hill - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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 wish to let out my leasehold apartment in Biggin Hill. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?
Notwithstanding that your last Biggin Hill conveyancing lawyer is not around you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Biggin Hill. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?
On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Biggin Hill.
I’m about to sell my 2 bed apartment in Biggin Hill.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
I work for a long established estate agency in Biggin Hill where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Biggin Hill conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence 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 wait 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 sale.
An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.
After months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Biggin Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Biggin Hill conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Biggin Hill property is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 50.57 years.
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