I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in South Wimbledon - 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.

I have recently realised that I have 68 years left on my flat in South Wimbledon. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering South Wimbledon.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in South Wimbledon. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £375000 maisonette in South Wimbledon on Tuesday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in South Wimbledon?

South Wimbledon conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally requires the buyer’s lawyer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be willing to do so. They may levy a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs 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 synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

After years of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in South Wimbledon. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a South Wimbledon conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a South Wimbledon premises is 14 Nutwell Street in January 2014. The premium payable for the acquisition of a new lease of the subject premises was in the sum of £30,523 This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 62.94 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that 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 elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• 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 as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Lloyds TSB Bank, Bank of Scotland, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.