Quality lawyers for Leasehold Conveyancing in Nine Elms

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Nine Elms, you will need to appoint a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Clydesdale , Birmingham Midshires or NatWest be sure to find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Top Five Questions relating to Nine Elms leasehold conveyancing

I am hoping to exchange soon on a garden flat in Nine Elms. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
  • Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the flat, or having a home office for business
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Nine Elms please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Nine Elms

  • I have just started marketing my garden flat in Nine Elms.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

    The sensible thing to do is 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 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.

    Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Nine Elms. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

    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. However, 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).

    I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Nine Elms where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Nine Elms conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

    Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence 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 wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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 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 buyer.

    Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £200000 apartment in Nine Elms in just under a week. The management company has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Nine Elms?

    Nine Elms conveyancing on leasehold flats often necessitates the purchaser’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries the majority will be willing to do so. They are entitled invoice a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

    Having spent months of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Nine Elms. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    if there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute 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 Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the amount due.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Nine Elms premises is 150A Albert Palace Mansions Lurline Gardens in July 2013. The Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the new lease of the subject property was £42,069 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 57.06 years.