I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Isle of Dogs. Before diving in I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Isle of Dogs - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Isle of Dogs.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you 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 managing agents 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 a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Isle of Dogs where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Isle of Dogs conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £ 125000 apartment in Isle of Dogs in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Isle of Dogs?

Isle of Dogs conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally results in administration charges raised by managing agents :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Isle of Dogs
• 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 Isle of Dogs leasehold property is £350. For Isle of Dogs 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 supply the information.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can I make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Isle of Dogs conveyancing firm to help?

if there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Isle of Dogs flat is 12, 14 & 16 Hull Close in May 2010. the Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the acquisition of the freehold to the subject premises was the sum of £18,300 This case affected 3 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 101.61 years.

Are there frequently found problems that you see in leases for Isle of Dogs properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Isle of Dogs is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Chelsea Building Society, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Isle of Dogs - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

The majority of Isle of Dogs leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the freeholder. Where you buy the apartment you will have to pay this contribution, normally in instalments throughout the year. This may be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a large sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. For many Isle of Dogs leaseholds the outlay for major works are not built into the maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Isle of Dogs ask leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for larger works.