Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Enfield Town

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Enfield Town, you will need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Santander, Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Enfield Town leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Enfield Town. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Enfield Town - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Enfield Town. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Enfield Town.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed flat in Enfield Town.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the invoice 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 until 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 am employed by a reputable estate agency in Enfield Town where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Enfield Town conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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. This means 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 has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Enfield Town with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Enfield Town can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in Enfield Town levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for 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 frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Enfield Town.
  • A minority of Enfield Town leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. 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 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 lawyers.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Organising a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Enfield Town conveyancing deal. If a reissued share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • My wife and I have hit a brick wall in seeking a lease extension in Enfield Town. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

    You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Enfield Town conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Enfield Town premises is First Floor Flat 109 Lyndhurst Road in May 2010. Following a vesting order by Edmonton County Court on 29th October 2009 the Tribunal decided on a figure of £5,012 for a lease extension. This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 81.79 years.