Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Gipsy Hill. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Gipsy Hill - 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.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed flat in Gipsy Hill.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Gipsy Hill conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Gipsy Hill conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with several firms including non Gipsy Hill conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?

How many lease extensions have they completed in Gipsy Hill in the last twenty four months?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Gipsy Hill from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Gipsy Hill can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Gipsy Hill levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Gipsy Hill.

If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Gipsy Hill state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you dont have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.

Some Gipsy Hill leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and delays many a Gipsy Hill home move. Where a reissued share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £225000 garden flat in Gipsy Hill in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Gipsy Hill?

Gipsy Hill conveyancing on leasehold flats ordinarily necessitates fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Gipsy Hill
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Gipsy Hill leasehold premises is £350. For Gipsy Hill conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply answers.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a Gipsy Hill conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

if there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to judgment on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Gipsy Hill residence is Flat 5 4 Border Crescent in December 2013. the tribunal calculated that premium payable for the acquisition of a lease extension of the subject premises was in the sum of £14,900 (Fourteen thousand, nine hundred pounds). Those advising the applicant were advised to send a copy of the decision and a copy of the new lease with the premium (less the applicants costs as assessed by the Court) to the Croydon County Court (under claim number 3CR01226) for an officer of the Court to execute the new lease on behalf of the absentee landlord who is missing and cannot be traced). This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 69 years.