I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in Colney Hatch.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you discharge 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 managing agents 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.

What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a Colney Hatch conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Colney Hatch conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Colney Hatch conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How many lease extensions have they carried out in Colney Hatch in the last year?

What are the legal fees for lease extension work?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Colney Hatch from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Colney Hatch can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Colney Hatch leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Should you dont have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride 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 will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Colney Hatch home move. Where a reissued share is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £475000 apartment in Colney Hatch on Wednesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Colney Hatch?

Colney Hatch conveyancing on leasehold apartments ordinarily necessitates fees being invoiced by management companies :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Colney Hatch
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Colney Hatch leasehold property is £350. For Colney Hatch 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 obliged to supply answers.

I am the leaseholder of a basement flat in Colney Hatch. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for a lease extension?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Colney Hatch conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Colney Hatch flat is 90 & 96 Poplar Grove in June 2013. It was held by the Tribunal that the premium to be paid for the new lease in respect of each of the flats referred should be £17,942 This case related to 2 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 68 years.

What makes a Colney Hatch lease unacceptable for security purposes?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Colney Hatch. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• 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

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Colney Hatch