Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Hadley Wood. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Hadley Wood - 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Hadley Wood. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. For most situations a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Hadley Wood.

I am attracted to a two apartments in Hadley Wood which have about 50 years remaining on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Hadley Wood. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease shortens the value of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes 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 difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hadley Wood from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hadley Wood can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Hadley Wood charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack 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 usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hadley Wood.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Hadley Wood state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.

A minority of Hadley Wood 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. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly 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 there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £450000 apartment in Hadley Wood in 5 days. The managing agents has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Hadley Wood?

Hadley Wood conveyancing on leasehold apartments ordinarily involves fees being raised by management companies :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Hadley Wood
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Hadley Wood leasehold premises is £350. For Hadley Wood 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 obliged to supply the information.

I am the leaseholder of a two-bedroom flat in Hadley Wood. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Hadley Wood conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Hadley Wood property is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 76 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Hadley Wood