Planning to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Crofton Park. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report 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 Crofton Park should include some of the following:

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• Defining your rights in relation to the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease provide for a right of way over a path or hallways?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Crofton Park where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Crofton Park conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that 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. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. 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.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Crofton Park conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Crofton Park conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Crofton Park conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• Can they put you in touch with client in Crofton Park who can give a testimonial?
• What are the legal fees for lease extension work?

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £ 175000 flat in Crofton Park next Wednesday . The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, 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 Crofton Park?

Crofton Park conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually necessitates the purchaser’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries the majority will be willing to do so. They are entitled invoice a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Having spent years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Crofton Park. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Where there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to judgment on the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Crofton Park flat is Flat b 14 Kemble Road in May 2014. The Tribunal assessed the value of the premium payable for the lease extension to be £9,761 This case related to 1 flat.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Crofton Park what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Crofton Park is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain sections are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

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. Birmingham Midshires, Bank of Scotland, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Crofton Park Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

For many Crofton Park leaseholds the outlay for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Crofton Park require leasehold owners to pay into a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance.