St Pancras leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries
Back In 2000, I bought a leasehold flat in St Pancras. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in St Pancras who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?
First contact HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a St Pancras conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note 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 attracted to a two flats in St Pancras which have in the region of fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?
There are plenty of short leases in St Pancras. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area
Last month I purchased a leasehold house in St Pancras. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, 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).
I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in St Pancras where we have witnessed a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local St Pancras conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
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 buyer.
All being well we will complete the disposal of our £400000 garden flat in St Pancras next week. The managing agents has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in St Pancras?
St Pancras conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not requires the buyer’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer such questions the majority will be content to do so. They may levy 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 transactions it is in excess of £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.
Notwithstanding our best efforts, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in St Pancras. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the price.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a St Pancras premises is Flat 89 Trinity Court Grays Inn Road in February 2013. the Tribunal found that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 should be £36,229. This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 66.8 years.
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