Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon, you will need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Santander, Yorkshire Building Society or Bradford & Bingley make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Find a South Wimbledon conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

South Wimbledon leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% 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.

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold flat in South Wimbledon. Conveyancing and Clydesdale mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in South Wimbledon who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a South Wimbledon conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a two apartments in South Wimbledon which have in the region of fifty years remaining on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in South Wimbledon. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

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

  • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
  • The majority landlords or Management Companies in South Wimbledon levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Wimbledon.
  • Some South Wimbledon leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • We expect to complete our sale of a £500000 garden flat in South Wimbledon in just under a week. The management company has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in South Wimbledon?

    South Wimbledon conveyancing on leasehold flats often necessitates the buyer’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address such questions most will be content to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries 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 transactions it is above £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to sell the property.

    After years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in South Wimbledon. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a South Wimbledon conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a South Wimbledon flat 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 related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 62.94 years.