Leasehold Conveyancing in Mayfair - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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Leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair and next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Mayfair leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Mayfair - 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.

My fiance and I may need to sub-let our Mayfair ground floor flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Mayfair conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Mayfair conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain permission via your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Mayfair.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay the invoice 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Mayfair. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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. Strange as it may seem, 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 be sure 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).

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Mayfair can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Mayfair state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. If you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
  • If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a new share certificate can be a lengthy formality and delays many a Mayfair conveyancing deal. If a reissued share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • After years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Mayfair. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    Most definitely. We can 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 affected 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 21 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Mayfair