Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Frognal:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Frognal, you will need to chose a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Clydesdale , Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a Frognal conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Frognal leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

There are only Fifty years remaining on my lease in Frognal. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Frognal.

Planning to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Frognal. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Frognal should include some of the following:

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or working from home
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
  • 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
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • 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 For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Frognal please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Frognal

    • Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Frognal from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Frognal can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
    • Some Frognal leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy process and delays many a Frognal home move. Where a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is 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 premises on the market for sale.

    • If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £250000 flat in Frognal on Tuesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Frognal?

    Frognal conveyancing on leasehold apartments often requires the buyer’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be content to assist. They are at liberty invoice a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

    I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without success. Can one make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Frognal conveyancing firm to represent me?

    Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to judgment on the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Frognal residence is Raised Ground Floor Flat 20 Fitzjohns Avenue in July 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premiums to be paid for new leases in respect of the Raised Ground Floor Flat and the First Floor Flat were to be calculated as: Raised Ground Floor: £765,175.14 First Floor: £601,617.77 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 16.83 and 16.43.

    What makes a Frognal lease unmortgageable?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Frognal is not unique. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. 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 property
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Coventry Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to pull out.