Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Bulls Cross:

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While any conveyancing practice can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Bulls Cross, your mortgage provider may unwilling to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Top Five Questions relating to Bulls Cross leasehold conveyancing

Due to complete next month on a studio apartment in Bulls Cross. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • The physical extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but may incorporate a loft or cellar if appropriate.
  • Defining your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the block.For example, does the lease include a right of way over a path or staircase?
  • Repair and maintenance of the flat
  • 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
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Bulls Cross please enquire of your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Bulls Cross

    • I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Bulls Cross. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

    In a situation 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. A critical element 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).

    I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Bulls Cross where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Bulls Cross conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

    Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 buyer can avoid having 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 at the same time as completion of the sale.

    Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

    Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Bulls Cross with the intention of expediting the sale process?

    • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Bulls Cross can be reduced if you appoint 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 solicitors.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Bulls Cross state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Should you dont have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer before hand.
  • Some Bulls Cross leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (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 buyers or their solicitors.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Bulls Cross home move. Where a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • Completion in due on the disposal of our £325000 apartment in Bulls Cross on Friday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Bulls Cross?

    Bulls Cross conveyancing on leasehold apartments more often than not requires the buyer’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They are entitled levy a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is above £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has little option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to complete the sale of your home.

    I am the registered owner of a ground floor flat in Bulls Cross. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for a lease extension?

    Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to calculate the price.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Bulls Cross flat is First Floor Flat 109 Lyndhurst Road in May 2010. Following a vesting order by Edmonton County Court on 29th October 2009 the Tribunal decided on a figure of £5,012 for a lease extension. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 81.79 years.