Questions and Answers: Tower Hill leasehold conveyancing
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Tower Hill. Before diving in I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.
Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Tower Hill - 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.
I want to let out my leasehold apartment in Tower Hill. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?
Notwithstanding that your previous Tower Hill conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.
Due to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Tower Hill. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Tower Hill should include some of the following:
- You should be sent a copy of the lease
My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Tower Hill. Conveyancing and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Tower Hill who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?
The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Tower Hill conveyancing lawyer 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 landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
Following years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Tower Hill. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to determine the price.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Tower Hill premises is 1-41 Royal Tower Lodge 40 Cartwright Street in April 2013. the tribunal adding the agreed value of capitalised ground rents and the reversion the price to be paid for the freehold was £1,187,000 This case affected 41 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 107 years.
What makes a Tower Hill lease unmortgageable?
Leasehold conveyancing in Tower Hill is not unique. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:
- A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
- A duty to insure the building
- Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
- Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage
A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.
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