Leasehold Conveyancing in Gidea Park - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

Get a Quote

Whether you are buying or selling leasehold flat in Gidea Park, our panel of leasehold conveyancing experts will help you move with as little stress as possible. Find a Gidea Park conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Recently asked questions relating to Gidea Park leasehold conveyancing

I have recently realised that I have 68 years unexpired on my flat in Gidea Park. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Gidea Park.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Gidea Park both have in the region of fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Gidea Park. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease shortens the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a busy estate agent office in Gidea Park where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Gidea Park conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Gidea Park from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Gidea Park can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Gidea Park leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in the first instance.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a new share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Gidea Park home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is under 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • Having spent months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Gidea Park. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    if there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to judgment on the premium.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Gidea Park property is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 57.5 years.

    When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Gidea Park what are the most common lease problems?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Gidea Park. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
    • A duty to insure the building
    • 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 will encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Gidea Park