Planning to complete next month on a leasehold property in Dollis Hill. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Dollis Hill should include some of the following:

• The physical extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but might include a roof space or basement if appropriate.
• Does the lease prevent you from letting out the flat, or having a home office for business
• You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in Dollis Hill.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is clear 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 today plan to offer on a house that appears to be perfect, at a reasonable price which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently found out that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a house with a leasehold title in Dollis Hill. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been instructed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Dollis Hill are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Dollis Hill in which case you should be shopping around for a Dollis Hill conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer should report to you on the legal implications.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Dollis Hill both have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Dollis Hill is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. For most purchasers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Dollis Hill conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Dollis Hill where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Dollis Hill conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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 buyer.

After months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Dollis Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

if there is a absentee 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.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Dollis Hill property is 12 & 12A Deacon Road in May 2010. the Tribunal concluded that the price to be paid for the freehold should be £38,287 This case related to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 65.58 years.

I bought a studio flat in Dollis Hill, conveyancing formalities finalised 2009. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Dollis Hill with an extended lease are worth £262,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease ceases on 21st October 2076

You have 50 years left to run the likely cost is going to range between £34,200 and £39,600 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.