Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Chiswick

Get a Quote

Require a conveyancing quote from a solicitor for leasehold conveyancing in Chiswick on your lender’s panel? Use our search tool to find quality local Chiswick conveyancing practitioners or nationwide solicitors on your lender’s panel .

Chiswick leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I only have 68 years unexpired on my flat in Chiswick. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Chiswick.

I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in Chiswick.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I've found a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have just found out that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a leasehold house in Chiswick. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Chiswick ?

The majority of houses in Chiswick are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Chiswick so you should seriously consider looking for a Chiswick conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a lessee you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your conveyancer will advise you fully on all the issues.

I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Chiswick where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Chiswick conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process 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 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 wait 2 years for a lease extension. 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.

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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Chiswick from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Chiswick can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
  • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Chiswick levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Chiswick.
  • Some Chiswick leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to pay 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 particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Chiswick home move. If a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

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

    Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to calculate the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Chiswick premises is Flat 1 30 Ennismore Avenue in September 2010. the Tribunal adopted and arrived at a premium for the lease extension of £29, 900 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 68.34 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Chiswick