Lambeth leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Lambeth. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.
Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Lambeth - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.
There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Lambeth. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?
If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. In some cases a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Lambeth.
I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Lambeth.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
The sensible thing to do is clear the service charge 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Lambeth. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Lambeth who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Lambeth conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
Having spent years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Lambeth. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Lambeth conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Lambeth flat is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 56 years.
When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Lambeth what are the most common lease defects?
There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Lambeth. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain clauses 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.
- Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage
A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Barnsley Building Society, and Clydesdale all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.
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