Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in St James's:

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While any conveyancing practice can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in St James's, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

St James's leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I am intending to let out my leasehold apartment in St James's. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Even though your previous St James's conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek permission from your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without first obtaining permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in St James's. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in St James's should include some of the following:

  • The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark
  • Defining your legal entitlements in relation to common areas in the building.For example, does the lease provide for a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
  • Are pets allowed in the flat?
  • You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • 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
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in St James's please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in St James's

    • I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in St James's.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

    It best that you clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

    My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in St James's. Conveyancing and Leeds Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in St James's who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

    First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a St James's conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

    I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in St James's where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local St James's conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

    Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

    An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

    I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a St James's conveyancing firm to help?

    if there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to arrive at the price payable.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a St James's property is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 73.26 years.