Planning to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Mayfair. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair should include some of the following:

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

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

Does the lease prevent you from subletting the property, or working from home

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

Repair and maintenance of the flat

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Mayfair please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Mayfair

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in Mayfair.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you discharge 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 Mayfair. Conveyancing and HSBC Bank mortgage are in place. 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 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Mayfair who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Mayfair conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Mayfair both have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Completion in due on the sale of our £200000 flat in Mayfair next week. The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Mayfair?

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

• Completing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Mayfair
• 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 Mayfair leasehold premises is £350. For Mayfair 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 the information.

I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Mayfair. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium payable for a lease extension?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Mayfair conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Mayfair premises 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 related to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 21 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Mayfair