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

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Chessington - 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.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Chessington. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me 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 Chessington should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord

The total extent of the property. This will be the apartment itself but could also include a roof space or basement if appropriate.

Defining your rights in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease include a right of way over an accessway or hallways?

You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Chessington please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Chessington

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Chessington both have approximately forty five years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Chessington. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Chessington with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Chessington can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Chessington state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Where you dont have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.

Some Chessington leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 purchasers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. 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 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 as opposed to unsettled.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Chessington conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £200000 garden flat in Chessington next Friday . The managing agents has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Chessington?

For most leasehold sales in Chessington conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Chessington
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Chessington leasehold premises is £350. For Chessington 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.

Despite our best efforts, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in Chessington. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Chessington property is Flat D 15 Claremont Gardens in September 2013. TheTribunal determined in accordance with section48 and Schedule13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty seven pounds (£14,187.00) This case affected 1 flat.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Chessington