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

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Bloomsbury, you will need to appoint a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Lloyds, RBS or Bradford & Bingley be sure to choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a Bloomsbury conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Bloomsbury leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Looking forward to complete next month on a garden flat in Bloomsbury. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
  • Defining your rights in relation to the communal areas in the block.For instance, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or staircase?
  • Does the lease prevent you from letting out the flat, or having a home office for business
  • You must be told what counts as 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
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Bloomsbury please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Bloomsbury

    • I own a leasehold flat in Bloomsbury. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Bloomsbury who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

    The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Bloomsbury conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

    Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Bloomsbury. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

    Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

    If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

    What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Bloomsbury conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

    When appointing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Bloomsbury conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Bloomsbury conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

    • What volume of lease extensions has the firm conducted in Bloomsbury in the last twenty four months?
  • What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

    • Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bloomsbury from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Bloomsbury can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
    • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Bloomsbury state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.
  • Some Bloomsbury leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a Bloomsbury conveyancing firm to represent me?

    Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Bloomsbury conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Bloomsbury property is Flat 89 Trinity Court Grays Inn Road in February 2013. the Tribunal found that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 should be £36,229. This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 66.8 years.