Colliers Wood leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Colliers Wood. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is registered - and most are in Colliers Wood - 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.
There are only 72 years remaining on my lease in Colliers Wood. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?
On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Colliers Wood.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Colliers Wood.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?
It best that you pay the invoice 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 am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Colliers Wood where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Colliers Wood conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done 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 purchaser.
I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a Colliers Wood conveyancing firm to assist?
Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to calculate the price.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Colliers Wood property is 14 Nutwell Street in January 2014. The premium payable for the acquisition of a new lease of the subject premises was in the sum of £30,523 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 62.94 years.
In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Colliers Wood what are the most frequent lease defects?
Leasehold conveyancing in Colliers Wood is not unique. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:
- A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
- A duty to insure the building
- Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
- Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall
You will encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Yorkshire Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.
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