Due to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Foots Cray. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• The total extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but may incorporate a loft or cellar if applicable.

Does the lease prevent you from subletting the flat, or having a home office for business

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

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

Repair and maintenance of the flat

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

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Foots Cray please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Foots Cray

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in Foots Cray.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

It best that you discharge 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Foots Cray conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Foots Cray 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 talk with two or three firms including non Foots Cray conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be useful:

• How many lease extensions has the firm conducted in Foots Cray in the last twenty four months?

Can they put you in touch with client in Foots Cray who can give a testimonial?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Foots Cray from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Foots Cray can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Foots Cray levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information 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 usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Foots Cray.

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 warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a new share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Foots Cray home move. Where a duplicate share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £350000 garden flat in Foots Cray in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Foots Cray?

For most leasehold sales in Foots Cray conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Foots Cray
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Foots Cray leasehold property is £350. For Foots Cray 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 supply the information.

Notwithstanding our best endeavours, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in Foots Cray. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Foots Cray conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Foots Cray property is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case was in relation to 1 flat.