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Common questions relating to Seven Sisters leasehold conveyancing

I have recently realised that I have Seventy years left on my lease in Seven Sisters. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Seven Sisters.

I am hoping to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Seven Sisters. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

  • The total extent of the demise. This will be the property itself but may incorporate a roof space or basement if applicable.
  • Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.By way of example, does the lease provide for a right of way over an accessway or hallways?
  • Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or having a home office for business
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Seven Sisters please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Seven Sisters

    • Back In 2009, I bought a leasehold house in Seven Sisters. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Seven Sisters who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

    The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Seven Sisters conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

    I work for a reputable estate agency in Seven Sisters where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Seven Sisters conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

    As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

    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.

    Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Seven Sisters from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Seven Sisters can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Seven Sisters state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
  • A minority of Seven Sisters leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • My wife and I have hit a brick wall in negotiating a lease extension in Seven Sisters. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

    Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Seven Sisters conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Seven Sisters premises is 22 Wakefield Road in January 2012. Following a vesting order Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court under section 26 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 on 9th May 2011 the Tribunal decided that the price that the Applicant for the freehold interest should pay is £17,400 This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 74.13 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Seven Sisters