Leasehold Conveyancing in Paddington - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Paddington, you will need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Lloyds, Birmingham Midshires or Bradford & Bingley make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Common questions relating to Paddington leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Paddington. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Paddington - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I own a leasehold house in Paddington. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Paddington who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Paddington conveyancing practitioner 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 legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Paddington. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Paddington where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Paddington conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Paddington from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Paddington can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Paddington state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you dont have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a new share certificate is often a lengthy formality and slows down many a Paddington conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

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

    if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the amount due.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Paddington property is Flats 37 & 39 88/90 Portland Place in December 2010. The Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the lease extensions in respect of these two flats is as follows:- For Flat 37, the sum of £385,230.00 For Flat 39, the sum of £436,780.00 This case related to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 24.02 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Paddington