Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Hoxton

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Leasehold conveyancing in Hoxton is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Hoxton and next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Hoxton leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Looking forward to complete next month on a studio apartment in Hoxton. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or having a home office for business
  • You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • 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 Hoxton please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Hoxton

    • I own a leasehold house in Hoxton. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Hoxton who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

    The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be 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 Hoxton conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Hoxton both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

    There are plenty of short leases in Hoxton. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

    Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Hoxton. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to 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. 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 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Hoxton where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Hoxton conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

    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.

    We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Hoxton. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

    Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Hoxton conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Hoxton residence is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 72.39 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Hoxton