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Common questions relating to Honor Oak leasehold conveyancing

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed flat in Honor Oak.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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 until 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Honor Oak which have approximately 50 years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Honor Oak. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Honor Oak. 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. However, 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 work for a busy estate agent office in Honor Oak where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Honor Oak conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Honor Oak from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Honor Oak can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
  • Many landlords or Management Companies in Honor Oak charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Honor Oak.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Honor Oak state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. If you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • After months of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Honor Oak. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to judgment on the price payable.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Honor Oak residence is Flat 1 40-42 Ewelme Road in August 2012. the Tribunal assessed the premium for the lease extension in the sum of £11,800 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 61.81 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Honor Oak