Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair:

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While any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair, your mortgage provider may unwilling to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Top Five Questions relating to Mayfair leasehold conveyancing

My husband and I may need to let out our Mayfair ground floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Mayfair conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will set out if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Mayfair do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Mayfair. Conveyancing lawyers inform 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 Mayfair should include some of the following:

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
  • Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
  • You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Mayfair please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Mayfair

    • I’m about to sell my 2 bed apartment in Mayfair.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

    It best that you 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

    I own a leasehold house in Mayfair. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Mayfair who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

    The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Mayfair conveyancing solicitor 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 legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    I work for a long established estate agency in Mayfair where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Mayfair conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. 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.

    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 purchaser.

    I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without any joy. Can one apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Mayfair conveyancing firm to assist?

    if there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the price payable.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Mayfair property is Flat 1 3 Upper Belgrave Street in December 2010. The Tribunal determined that the price payablefor the Lease extension in respect of the subject premises was £2,202,007 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 21 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Mayfair