I am attracted to a two flats in Finsbury Park which have about 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Finsbury Park conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Finsbury Park conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you make enquires with several firms including non Finsbury Park conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in Finsbury Park in the last twenty four months?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Finsbury Park who can give a testimonial?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Finsbury Park with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Finsbury Park can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Finsbury Park charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Finsbury Park.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Finsbury Park leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing 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 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 better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 200000 maisonette in Finsbury Park in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Finsbury Park?

Finsbury Park conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically necessitates fees being levied by management companies :

• Answering pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Finsbury Park
• 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 Finsbury Park leasehold premises is £350. For Finsbury Park 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 required to provide the information.

I have had difficulty in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in Finsbury Park. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Finsbury Park conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Finsbury Park premises is 51 Lorne Road in November 2009. The price Payable as decided by the tribunal for the freehold reversion was £27,000. The valuation follows the order of the County Court made on 3 April 2008 granting a vesting order. This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 71 years.

What are the frequently found deficiencies that you witness in leases for Finsbury Park properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Finsbury Park. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Barclays , Coventry Building Society, and Aldermore all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

I inherited a 2 bed flat in Finsbury Park, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Finsbury Park with a long lease are worth £237,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2081

With just 55 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £26,600 and £30,800 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.