Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb:

Get a Quote

Whether you are buying or selling leasehold flat in Hampstead Garden Suburb, our panel of leasehold conveyancing experts will help you move with as little stress as possible. Find a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Hampstead Garden Suburb leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I wish to sublet my leasehold flat in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

The lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Hampstead Garden Suburb do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the sublease.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb should include some of the following:

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
  • Does the lease prevent you from subletting the property, or having a home office for business
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Hampstead Garden Suburb please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb

    • I am looking at a couple of apartments in Hampstead Garden Suburb which have about fifty years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

    There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Hampstead Garden Suburb is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. For most buyers and mortgage companies, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

    Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Hampstead Garden Suburb state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Should you dont have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
  • A minority of Hampstead Garden Suburb leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing deal. Where a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • We expect to complete our sale of a £425000 maisonette in Hampstead Garden Suburb on Friday in a week. The management company has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Hampstead Garden Suburb?

    Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing on leasehold flats often involves the purchaser’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries the majority will be content to do so. They may invoice a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is in excess of £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to sell the property.

    Having spent years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Hampstead Garden Suburb premises is FFF, 37 and Garage 1, Queensborough Court North Circular Road in September 2012. The Tribunal determined that the premium for the lease extension should be £67,037 This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 23.66 years.