Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Elmers End:

Get a Quote

Leasehold conveyancing in Elmers End is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Elmers End and next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Elmers End leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

There are only Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Elmers End. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Elmers End.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Elmers End. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • 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 sinking fund?
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Elmers End please enquire of your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Elmers End

    • I have just started marketing my basement apartment in Elmers End.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

    It best that you discharge 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 managing agents 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've recently bought a leasehold property in Elmers End. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

    Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

    If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Elmers End from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Elmers End can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
    • The majority landlords or Management Companies in Elmers End 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 sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Elmers End.
  • Some Elmers End leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Elmers End home move. Where a reissued share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a Elmers End conveyancing firm to assist?

    in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to assess the premium.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Elmers End property is Flats 55, 67 & 70 Melbourne Court Anerley Road in July 2013. The tribunal calculated that the premium for the extended lease at £48,366.00 for at 55, and £88,329.00 for ats 67 and 70 combined. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 26.38 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Elmers End