Planning to complete next month on a studio apartment in Earls Court. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Earls Court should include some of the following:

• The physical extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but could also incorporate a loft or cellar if appropriate.

Setting out your rights in respect of the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease contain a right of way over an accessway or hallways?

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the property, or having a home office for business

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Earls Court please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Earls Court

I own a leasehold house in Earls Court. Conveyancing and Virgin Money mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Earls Court who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Earls Court conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Earls Court where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Earls Court conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller 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 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 can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Earls Court with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Earls Court can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Earls Court charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Earls Court.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Earls Court state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. If you fail to have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.

A minority of Earls Court leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Earls Court conveyancing transaction. Where a reissued share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £200000 apartment in Earls Court next Wednesday . The managing agents has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Earls Court?

Earls Court conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times necessitates administration charges invoiced by landlords agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Earls Court
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Earls Court leasehold premises is £350. For Earls Court 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 required to supply the information.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can a leaseholder make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Earls Court conveyancing firm to assist?

if there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Earls Court premises is 5 Wetherby Gardens in June 2014. the Tribunal concluded that the price to be paid for the freehold of the property was £2,369,452. This case related to 5 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 38.98 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Earls Court