I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Rainham. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Rainham - 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.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in Rainham.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until 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.

Back In 2007, I bought a leasehold house in Rainham. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Rainham who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Rainham conveyancing firm 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 rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Rainham where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Rainham conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

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 wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 250000 apartment in Rainham in just under a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Rainham?

Rainham conveyancing on leasehold flats usually requires the buyer’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions the majority will be willing to assist. They may invoice a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is in excess of £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

We have reached the end of our tether in negotiating a lease extension in Rainham. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder 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 LVT to make a decision on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Rainham flat is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 57.5 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Rainham - A selection of Queries before buying

Be sure to enquire if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For instance it is fairly common in Rainham leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Rainham. If you like the flatin Rainham yet your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced difficult compromise. It would be prudent to discover as much as possible about the managing agents as they can either make life much easier or a lot more difficult. As the owner of a leasehold property you will be at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily issues such as the tidiness of the common parts. Ask other tenants what they think of them. On a final note, find out the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the managing agents and precisely how they are spending the funds.