Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Upper Clapton:

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While any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Upper Clapton, your mortgage provider may unwilling to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Upper Clapton leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I only have Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Upper Clapton. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Upper Clapton.

Due to exchange soon on a garden flat in Upper Clapton. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Upper Clapton should include some of the following:

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • Does the lease prevent you from renting out the flat, or having a home office for business
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Upper Clapton please enquire of your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Upper Clapton

    • My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Upper Clapton. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Upper Clapton who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

    First contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Upper Clapton conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

    I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Upper Clapton. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

    In a situation 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).

    Following years of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Upper Clapton. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

    Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Upper Clapton conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Upper Clapton residence is Flat 25, Stamford Hill Mansions Stamford Hill in April 2010. The Tribunal therefore determined that the premium to be paid by the lessee to the freeholder for the extension of the lease should be £28,984.00 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 59 years.

    Are there frequently found deficiencies that you witness in leases for Upper Clapton properties?

    Leasehold conveyancing in Upper Clapton is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently 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:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
    • A duty to insure the building
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Barnsley Building Society, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Upper Clapton