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

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

Common questions relating to Chislehurst leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Chislehurst. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Chislehurst - 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Chislehurst. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part 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 a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Chislehurst where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Chislehurst conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start 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 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Chislehurst with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Chislehurst can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Chislehurst levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for 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 usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Chislehurst.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 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 are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Chislehurst conveyancing deal. If a duplicate share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

    • All being well we will complete our sale of a £175000 maisonette in Chislehurst next week. The management company has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Chislehurst?

    Chislehurst conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address these enquiries the majority will be willing to assist. They are at liberty levy a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is in excess of £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

    We have reached the end of our tether in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in Chislehurst. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

    in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to judgment on the price payable.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Chislehurst flat is 70 Andace Park Gardens 133-149 Widmore Road in November 2013. Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the lease extension was £10,052 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 72 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Chislehurst