I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Canonbury. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Canonbury - 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Canonbury. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Canonbury who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Canonbury 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 legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Canonbury which have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Canonbury. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Canonbury with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Canonbury can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Canonbury levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Canonbury.

If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Canonbury state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.

Some Canonbury leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. 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 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 lawyers.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £475000 garden flat in Canonbury in 10 days. The freeholder has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Canonbury?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Canonbury conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Canonbury
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Canonbury leasehold property is £350. For Canonbury conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

I am the registered owner of a first floor flat in Canonbury. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for a lease extension?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Canonbury conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Canonbury premises is 5C Stoke Newington Road in April 2010. the Tribunal therefore concludes that the premium to be paid for the extended lease is £700.00 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 80.5 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Canonbury