Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Newington

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

Newington leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I’m about to sell my ground floor flat in Newington.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until 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 am employed by a busy estate agency in Newington where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Newington conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Newington conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Newington conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Newington conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be of use:

  • What volume of lease extensions has the firm carried out in Newington in the last 12 months?
  • What are the charges for lease extension conveyancing?

    • Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Newington with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Newington can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
    • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Newington leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you dont have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
  • Some Newington leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual 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 lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Newington conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • My wife and I have hit a brick wall in seeking a lease extension in Newington. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

    if there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to judgment on the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Newington residence is 1-41 Royal Tower Lodge 40 Cartwright Street in April 2013. the tribunal adding the agreed value of capitalised ground rents and the reversion the price to be paid for the freehold was £1,187,000 This case related to 41 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 107 years.

    What makes a Newington lease unmortgageable?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Newington is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Lloyds TSB Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Nottingham Building Society all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Newington