Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Hook:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Hook, you will need to chose a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Lloyds, Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley make sure you choose a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Questions and Answers: Hook leasehold conveyancing

Expecting to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Hook. Conveyancing solicitors assured me 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 Hook should include some of the following:

  • The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
  • Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Hook please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Hook

    • I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Hook. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

    In a situation 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 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 long established estate agent office in Hook where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Hook conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can start 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

    An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

    What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Hook conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

    When appointing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Hook conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Hook conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

    • How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?
  • What volume of lease extensions has the firm conducted in Hook in the last 12 months?

    • Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hook from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hook can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Hook state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you dont have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.
  • Some Hook leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • I own a ground-floor 1960’s flat in Hook. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium due for the purchase of the freehold?

    in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the price payable.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Hook property 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.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Hook