Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Isle of Dogs. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Isle of Dogs should include some of the following:

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

The total extent of the premises. This will be the flat itself but may include a roof space or cellar if applicable.

Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.For example, does the lease include a right of way over an accessway or staircase?

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the property, or working from home

Repair and maintenance of the flat

What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Isle of Dogs please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Isle of Dogs

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Isle of Dogs which have in the region of forty five years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Isle of Dogs where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Isle of Dogs conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

We expect to complete the sale of our £150000 maisonette in Isle of Dogs on Monday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Isle of Dogs?

For most leasehold sales in Isle of Dogs conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Isle of Dogs
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer 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 premises 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 required to supply answers.

I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Isle of Dogs. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for the purchase of the freehold?

Where there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Isle of Dogs residence 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.

What makes a Isle of Dogs lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Isle of Dogs. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Barnsley Building Society, and Aldermore all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Isle of Dogs