Questions and Answers: Islington leasehold conveyancing
I am hoping to complete next month on a basement flat in Islington. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Islington should include some of the following:
- How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
I've recently bought a leasehold house in Islington. 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 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 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 employed by a long established estate agent office in Islington where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Islington conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, 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.
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Islington from the perspective of expediting the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Islington can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
- The majority landlords or Management Companies in Islington charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Islington.
Completion in due on the disposal of our £150000 flat in Islington on Monday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Islington?
Islington conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not involves the purchaser’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be willing to do so. They may charge a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it exceeds £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is technically not due. In reality you have little option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.
I am the registered owner of a garden flat in Islington. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium payable for the purchase of the freehold?
in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Islington premises is 5C Stoke Newington Road in April 2010. the Tribunal therefore concludes that the premium to be paid for the extended lease is £700.00 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 80.5 years.
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