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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in East Ham, you will need to chose a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Clydesdale , Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley be sure to choose a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Questions and Answers: East Ham leasehold conveyancing

I only have Seventy years unexpired on my flat in East Ham. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering East Ham.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in East Ham. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • 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
  • What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in East Ham please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in East Ham

  • I am employed by a busy estate agency in East Ham where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local East Ham conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

    Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 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 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.

    Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in East Ham with the aim of expediting the sale process?

    • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in East Ham can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
    • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in East Ham state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor before hand.
  • A minority of East Ham leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a East Ham conveyancing deal. If a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

  • Completion in due on the disposal of our £375000 garden flat in East Ham in just under a week. The management company has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in East Ham?

    East Ham conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

    I own a basement flat in East Ham. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount due for the purchase of the freehold?

    Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a East Ham conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a East Ham property is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 69.77 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in East Ham