Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Crouch End:

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Top Five Questions relating to Crouch End leasehold conveyancing

I wish to let out my leasehold apartment in Crouch End. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

The lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Crouch End do not prevent subletting altogether – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Crouch End. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order 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 have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Crouch End.

I’m about to sell my 2 bed apartment in Crouch End.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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 work for a reputable estate agent office in Crouch End where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Crouch End conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify 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 proposed purchaser need not have 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 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Crouch End with the intention of expediting the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Crouch End can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers conveyancers.
  • Many freeholders or managing agents in Crouch End charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Crouch End.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Crouch End leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in advance.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage 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.

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

    in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the price payable.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Crouch End flat is Flat 2A 19 Shepherds Hill in June 2014. The tribunal concluded in accordance with section 48 and schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act (the 1993 Act) that the premium payable in respect of the grant of a new lease for the Flat be £24,303 (twenty four thousand three hundred and three pounds) This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 67.85 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Crouch End