Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Hackney Wick

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Examples of recent questions relating to leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick

There are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Hackney Wick. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If 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 granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Hackney Wick.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed flat in Hackney Wick.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear the invoice 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 management companies 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Hackney Wick. Conveyancing and Lloyds TSB Bank mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Hackney Wick who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Hackney Wick conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Hackney Wick state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. If you fail to have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
  • Some Hackney Wick leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Hackney Wick conveyancing deal. Where a new share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

    • I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in Hackney Wick. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

    Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Hackney Wick conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Hackney Wick premises is 12 Nutfield Road in July 2014. the Tribunal judged that the price to be paid by the applicants for the freehold interest should be £19,572 This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term was 72.02 years.

    What makes a Hackney Wick lease problematic?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses 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
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.