I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Fulham. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Fulham - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Planning to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Fulham. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
• What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Fulham. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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 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).

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Fulham where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Fulham conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £ 200000 flat in Fulham in 8 days. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Fulham?

Fulham conveyancing on leasehold flats usually necessitates the purchaser’s conveyancer sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so. They are entitled invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to 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 transactions it exceeds £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has no option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

I am the registered owner of a ground floor flat in Fulham. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount due for a lease extension?

Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to judgment on the amount due.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Fulham flat is 66 and 66a Wardo Avenue in November 2012. The Tribunal determined that the sum of £8,048 is payable by the Applicants in respect of the price for the freehold of the property This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 93 years and 162 years.

Fulham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

It would be sensible to discover as much as possible regarding the managing agents as they can either make your living at the property much easier or much more difficult. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day matters such as the upkeep of the communal areas. You should not be shy to ask other people what they think of their management. In conclusion, be sure you know the dates that the service charges are due to the relevant party and precisely what it includes. The prefered form of lease structure is where the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the lessees enjoy being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.