Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Thornton Heath:

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Any conveyancing practice can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Thornton Heath, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Thornton Heath leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Jane (my partner) and I may need to rent out our Thornton Heath ground floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Thornton Heath conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Thornton Heath conveyancing lawyer is not available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

There are only 62 years left on my lease in Thornton Heath. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. For most situations a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. 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 overseeing Thornton Heath.

Planning to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Thornton Heath. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Thornton Heath should include some of the following:

  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
  • What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Thornton Heath please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Thornton Heath

    • Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden apartment in Thornton Heath.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

    The sensible thing to do is pay the invoice 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 management companies 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

    I am attracted to a couple of flats in Thornton Heath which have in the region of fifty years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

    There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Thornton Heath 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 marketability of the property. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more positive 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 Thornton Heath conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend 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 the proprietor of a garden flat in Thornton Heath. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?

    You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Thornton Heath conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Thornton Heath property is Ground Floor Flat 14 Lodge Road in October 2013. the tribunal held that the price payable for the acquisition of the extended lease of the property should be £12,590 .00 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 69.46 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Thornton Heath