Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Goddington. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and most are in Goddington - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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 complete next month on a studio apartment in Goddington. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they report fully 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 Goddington should include some of the following:

• Defining your legal entitlements in relation to the communal areas in the building.By way of example, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or staircase?

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Goddington both have about forty five years remaining on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Goddington. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Goddington where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Goddington conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. This means that the buyer 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 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.

We expect to complete our sale of a £200000 flat in Goddington next week. The management company has quoted £348 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Goddington?

Goddington conveyancing on leasehold apartments more often than not requires the purchaser’s lawyer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions the majority will be content to assist. They are entitled charge 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 £350, in some cases it is above £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

We have reached the end of our tether in seeking a lease extension in Goddington. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to calculate the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Goddington premises is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 50.57 years.