Rayners Lane leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Rayners Lane. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.
Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Rayners Lane - 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.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor apartment in Rayners Lane.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay 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 management companies 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Rayners Lane. Conveyancing and Chelsea Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Rayners Lane who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?
First contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Rayners Lane conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I am employed by a long established estate agency in Rayners Lane where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Rayners Lane conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 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 at the same time as completion of the sale.
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.
What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Rayners Lane conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?
When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Rayners Lane conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non Rayners Lane conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:
- What volume of lease extensions has the firm completed in Rayners Lane in the last 12 months?
After months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Rayners Lane. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the amount due.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Rayners Lane property is GFF 1 Holyrood Avenue in May 2014. The Tenant wished to acquire a new (extended) lease and applied to the Willesden County Court who granted a vesting order on 20* March2013. The Tribunal decied that the premium to be paid was £9,062 This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 79 years.
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