Examples of recent questions relating to leasehold conveyancing in Southall
I have recently realised that I have 68 years remaining on my flat in Southall. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?
If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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 magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Southall.
My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Southall. Conveyancing and Bank of Scotland 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 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Southall who acted for me is not around.What should I do?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Southall conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Southall both have in the region of 50 years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Southall is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the premises. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Southall conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Southall where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Southall conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.
Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £375000 apartment in Southall next week. The freeholder has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Southall?
Southall conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not requires the buyer’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to these enquiries most will be content to assist. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it exceeds £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.
Following years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Southall. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Southall conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Southall premises is 33 Barbican Road in January 2013. The Tribunals calculation of the lease extension premium payable was £17,592. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 55.12 years.
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