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

Get a Quote

Require a conveyancing quote from a solicitor for leasehold conveyancing in Petts Wood on your lender’s panel? Use our search tool to find approved local Petts Wood conveyancing lawyers or nationwide solicitors on your lender’s panel .

Questions and Answers: Petts Wood leasehold conveyancing

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Petts Wood. Before diving in I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Petts Wood - 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.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Petts Wood. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Petts Wood should include some of the following:

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Defining your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease include a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames
  • What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Petts Wood please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Petts Wood

    • Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Petts Wood conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

    When appointing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Petts Wood conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Petts Wood conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

    • How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?
  • If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

    • Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Petts Wood with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Petts Wood can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
    • The majority freeholders or managing agents in Petts Wood levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Petts Wood.
  • A minority of Petts Wood leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Petts Wood conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share certificate is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

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

    Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Petts Wood conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Petts Wood property is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 50.57 years.

    What makes a Petts Wood lease unmortgageable?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Petts Wood is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. 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
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Halifax, Leeds Building Society, and Britannia all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Petts Wood