Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold flat in Harrow on the Hill. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Harrow on the Hill who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Harrow on the Hill conveyancing practitioner 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Harrow on the Hill. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 be sure 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Harrow on the Hill where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Harrow on the Hill conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Harrow on the Hill with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Harrow on the Hill can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Harrow on the Hill charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Harrow on the Hill.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Harrow on the Hill leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. If you dont have the paperwork in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in advance.
• 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 concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a new share certificate can be a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Harrow on the Hill home move. If 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 £ 450000 apartment in Harrow on the Hill in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Harrow on the Hill?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Harrow on the Hill conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Harrow on the Hill
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Harrow on the Hill leasehold premises is £350. For Harrow on the Hill 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 provide the information.

Following months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Harrow on the Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Harrow on the Hill conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Harrow on the Hill property is flat 93b Welldon Crescent in May 2009. The Tribunals valuation for a 90-year lease extension of this fat was £13,171 This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 75.25 years.

Harrow on the Hill Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

What is the name of the managing agents? How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the apartment?