Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Foots Cray

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Recently asked questions relating to Foots Cray leasehold conveyancing

There are only 68 years unexpired on my lease in Foots Cray. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Foots Cray.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Foots Cray. 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 lessee 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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Foots Cray conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Foots Cray conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Foots Cray conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be of use:

  • If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?
  • What are the charges for lease extension work?

    • Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Foots Cray from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Foots Cray can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
    • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Foots Cray leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you dont have the consents to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.
  • A minority of Foots Cray leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet 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 purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Foots Cray conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

    • We expect to complete the sale of our £275000 garden flat in Foots Cray on Monday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £312 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Foots Cray?

    Foots Cray conveyancing on leasehold apartments often necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries most will be content to do so. They are entitled invoice a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, without which the invoice is technically not due. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

    After years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Foots Cray. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

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

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Foots Cray residence 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 related to 1 flat.