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

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Brompton, you will need to chose a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Clydesdale , Birmingham Midshires or Nationwide be sure to choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Recently asked questions relating to Brompton leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Brompton. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Brompton - 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Brompton. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Brompton.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have just found out that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a house with a leasehold title in Brompton. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Brompton are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Brompton so you should seriously consider looking for a Brompton conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your lawyer will appraise you on the various issues.

I am looking at a two flats in Brompton which have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Brompton. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Brompton from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Brompton can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in Brompton charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought 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 delay in leasehold conveyancing in Brompton.
  • A minority of Brompton leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual 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 buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay 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 prior to 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 better to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Brompton home move. If a reissued share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

    • I inherited a second floor flat in Brompton. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for a lease extension?

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

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Brompton property is Flat 3 47 Cadogan Square in December 2010. the Tribunal determined that the premium payable to the landord by the leaseholder for the lease extension was £732,935 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 13.33 years.