Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Ham. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I work for a busy estate agent office in Ham where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Ham conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having 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 at the same time as 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 buyer.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Ham conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Ham conveyancing firm) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Ham conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?

We expect to complete the sale of our £ 450000 flat in Ham in seven days. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Ham?

Ham conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally involves the buyer’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries most will be willing to assist. They are entitled levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is above £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Having spent years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Ham. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Ham conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Ham premises is Flat D 15 Claremont Gardens in September 2013. TheTribunal determined in accordance with section48 and Schedule13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty seven pounds (£14,187.00) This case affected 1 flat.

What are the frequently found defects that you encounter in leases for Ham properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Ham. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• 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 primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Lloyds TSB Bank, Barnsley Building Society, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Ham Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

What is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property? Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? Can you inform me if there are any major works anticipated that could add a premium to the service charges?