My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Morden Park. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Morden Park who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Morden Park conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Morden Park. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, 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 reputable estate agency in Morden Park where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Morden Park conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer 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 at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Morden Park from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Morden Park can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers solicitors.
• Some Morden Park leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

I have had difficulty in negotiating a lease extension in Morden Park. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Morden Park conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Morden Park premises is 33 The Maisonettes Alberta Avenue in June 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of a new lease be the sum of £20,680 (Twenty Thousand six hundred and eighty pounds). This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 60.43 years.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Morden Park what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Morden Park. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair 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 will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Skipton Building Society, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.