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

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Leasehold conveyancing in Bromley is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Bromley and throughout next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Top Five Questions relating to Bromley leasehold conveyancing

I only have Fifty years left on my flat in Bromley. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. For most situations a specialist should be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Bromley.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Bromley. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Setting out your rights in relation to common areas in the building.For example, does the lease include a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
  • Are pets allowed in the flat?
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
  • 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
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Bromley please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Bromley

    • I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Bromley both have approximately fifty years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

    There are plenty of short leases in Bromley. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bromley from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bromley can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Bromley state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Should you dont have the approvals to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.
  • A minority of Bromley leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Bromley conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • I inherited a ground floor flat in Bromley. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium due for the purchase of the freehold?

    You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Bromley conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Bromley property is 70 Andace Park Gardens 133-149 Widmore Road in November 2013. Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the lease extension was £10,052 This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 72 years.

    What makes a Bromley lease unmortgageable?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Bromley is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    You may encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Skipton Building Society, and Clydesdale all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.