My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Forest Hill. Conveyancing and Godiva Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Forest Hill who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Forest Hill conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Forest Hill both have in the region of 50 years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Forest Hill is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Forest Hill conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Forest Hill. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation 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. However, 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 Forest Hill from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Forest Hill can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Forest Hill charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Forest Hill.
• Some Forest Hill leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Forest Hill conveyancing deal. Where a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is below 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £ 425000 flat in Forest Hill next week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Forest Hill?

Forest Hill conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not requires the buyer’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer such questions most will be content to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to complete the sale of your home.

Having spent months of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Forest Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Forest Hill premises is Flat 1 40-42 Ewelme Road in August 2012. the Tribunal assessed the premium for the lease extension in the sum of £11,800 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 61.81 years.

I purchased a leasehold flat in Forest Hill, conveyancing was carried out in 2007. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar flats in Forest Hill with an extended lease are worth £193,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2094

With only 68 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £10,500 and £12,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.