You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Sidcup. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Sidcup should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
• Defining your rights in relation to common areas in the building.E.G., does the lease permit a right of way over an accessway or hallways?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• 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
• 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
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• 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

For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Sidcup please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Sidcup

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Sidcup which have about fifty years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Sidcup with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Sidcup can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Sidcup leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
• Some Sidcup leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the yearly 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Sidcup home move. Where a duplicate share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £ 475000 apartment in Sidcup next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Sidcup?

For most leasehold sales in Sidcup conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Sidcup
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Sidcup leasehold property is £350. For Sidcup conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide the information.

Following years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Sidcup. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Sidcup premises is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case related to 1 flat.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Sidcup what are the most common lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Sidcup. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Skipton Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

I bought a split level flat in Sidcup, conveyancing having been completed 9 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Sidcup with a long lease are worth £226,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2080

You have 54 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £28,500 and £33,000 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.