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

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Petersham, you will need to appoint a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Halifax, Yorkshire Building Society or Nationwide make sure you find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Petersham leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Petersham. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Petersham - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

Harry (my fiance) and I may need to sub-let our Petersham 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Petersham conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Petersham conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must obtain consent from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years remaining on my lease in Petersham. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Petersham.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Petersham with the intention of expediting the sale process?

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Petersham can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers solicitors.
  • Many landlords or managing agents in Petersham levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. 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 usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Petersham.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Petersham state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such alterations. Should you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in the first instance.
  • A minority of Petersham leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. 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 financial (bank) and professional references. Any 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential 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 may need to swallow your pride and pay 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

    • Following years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Petersham. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to make a decision on the amount due.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Petersham property is Ground Floor Flat 91 Bath Road in May 2009. in a case where the freeholder could not be traced, the Brentford County Court ordered that the Lease be surrendered in return for the grant of a new lease of the Premises at a premium determined by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal concluded that the price payable by the Applicant for the new lease of the premises be £15,900 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 60.45 years.

    What makes a Petersham lease unacceptable for security purposes?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Petersham is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
    • A duty to insure the building
    • 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

    You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. National Westminster Bank, Skipton Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Petersham