My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Oakleigh Park. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Oakleigh Park who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a Oakleigh Park conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Oakleigh Park which have about 50 years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Oakleigh Park is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Oakleigh Park conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Oakleigh Park conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Oakleigh Park conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Oakleigh Park conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?

How many lease extensions have they carried out in Oakleigh Park in the last twenty four months?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Oakleigh Park with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Oakleigh Park can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Oakleigh Park levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Oakleigh Park.

Some Oakleigh Park leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 solicitors.

If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy formality and delays many a Oakleigh Park conveyancing deal. Where a new share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £125000 garden flat in Oakleigh Park on Tuesday in a week. The management company has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Oakleigh Park?

Oakleigh Park conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally involves fees being levied by landlords agents :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Oakleigh Park
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Oakleigh Park leasehold property is £350. For Oakleigh Park conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide the information.

Following years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Oakleigh Park. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Oakleigh Park conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Oakleigh Park residence is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.