Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle. Before I get started I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Elephant and Castle - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Elephant and Castle. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
• Setting out your rights in respect of common areas in the block.For instance, does the lease permit a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
• Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
• Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
• What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Elephant and Castle please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Elephant and Castle

I’m about to sell my ground floor apartment in Elephant and Castle.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you clear 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. 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 Elephant and Castle where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Elephant and Castle conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 Elephant and Castle from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Elephant and Castle levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to 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 usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle.
• A minority of Elephant and Castle leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to 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 annual 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Elephant and Castle conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

I am the registered owner of a first floor flat in Elephant and Castle. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium payable for a lease extension?

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 First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Elephant and Castle premises is Ground Floor Flat 39 Bronsart Road in May 2010. Following a vesting order by West London County Court the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal concluded that the price to be paid for the extended lease of the premises was Thirteen Thousand Two hundred pounds (£13,200) in accordance with the valuation. The extended lease was granted for a term of 90 years from the expiry date of the Lease and at a peppercorn ground rent from the date of the vesting order. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 74.77 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Elephant and Castle - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be incorporated into the service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Elephant and Castle ask tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for major repairs or maintenance. Does the lease contain onerous restrictions? How much is the ground rent and service charge?