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

Questions and Answers: Mitcham leasehold conveyancing

I have recently realised that I have 68 years left on my flat in Mitcham. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Mitcham.

Looking forward to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Mitcham. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Mitcham should include some of the following:

  • Setting out your rights in respect of the communal areas in the building.By way of example, does the lease contain a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
  • Whether the lease restricts you from letting out the flat, or working from home
  • You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • Repair and maintenance of the flat
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Mitcham please enquire of your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Mitcham

    • I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Mitcham. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

    In a situation 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. A critical element 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 work for a long established estate agency in Mitcham where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Mitcham conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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 need not have 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 before, 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 buyer.

    What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Mitcham conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

    If you are instructing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Mitcham conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Mitcham conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

    • How many lease extensions have they completed in Mitcham in the last year?
  • What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing?

    • After years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Mitcham. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    Where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to arrive at the price payable.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Mitcham premises is 50 & 52 Southcroft Road in September 2013. The tribunals own valuation determined that the premium payable should be £29,000 This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term was 86.11 and 60.64.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Mitcham