I am hoping to exchange soon on a garden flat in East Ham. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully 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:

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

Setting out your legal entitlements in relation to the communal areas in the building.For example, does the lease include a right of way over a path or staircase?

Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?

You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

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 included in your report on your leasehold property in East Ham please enquire of your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in East Ham

I have just started marketing my garden apartment in East Ham.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay the service charge 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 unless 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold house in East Ham. Conveyancing and HSBC Bank mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in East Ham who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a East Ham conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a couple of flats in East Ham both have about fifty years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in East Ham. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £250000 apartment in East Ham on Thursday in a week. The management company has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in East Ham?

East Ham conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually results in fees being levied by freeholders :

• Answering pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in East Ham
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 East Ham leasehold property is £350. For East Ham 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 obliged to provide the information.

Having spent years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in East Ham. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

if there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement 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 calculate the price.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a East Ham flat 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 unexpired term was 69.77 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in East Ham