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

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Charing Cross, you will need to appoint a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Halifax, Yorkshire Building Society or NatWest be sure to find a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Top Five Questions relating to Charing Cross leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Charing Cross. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and most are in Charing Cross - 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.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Charing Cross. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • The total extent of the premises. This will be the flat itself but may incorporate a roof space or basement if applicable.
  • Defining your rights in respect of the communal areas in the building.For example, does the lease include a right of way over an accessway or hallways?
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Charing Cross please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Charing Cross

    • I today plan to offer on a house that seems to be perfect, at a reasonable figure which is making it more attractive. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Charing Cross. Conveyancing lawyers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

    The majority of houses in Charing Cross are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Charing Cross in which case you should be shopping around for a Charing Cross conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the freeholder’sconsent to conduct alterations. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is located on an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

    I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Charing Cross where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Charing Cross conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

    Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

    An alternative approach is 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.

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Charing Cross from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Charing Cross can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
    • The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Charing Cross charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Charing Cross.
  • Some Charing Cross leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential 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.

    • Having spent months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Charing Cross. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Charing Cross conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Charing Cross flat is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 73.26 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Charing Cross