Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in Upton Park

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Any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Upton Park, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Top Five Questions relating to Upton Park leasehold conveyancing

Due to complete next month on a studio apartment in Upton Park. Conveyancing lawyers inform 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 Upton Park should include some of the following:

  • You should be sent a copy of the lease
  • Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
  • Does the lease prevent you from letting out the flat, or having a home office for business
  • You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
  • You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
  • 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
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Upton Park please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Upton Park

    • I am attracted to a two apartments in Upton Park which have approximately forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

    There are plenty of short leases in Upton Park. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

    I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Upton Park. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

    Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, 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 long established estate agency in Upton Park 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 Upton Park conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

    As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

    Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

    Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Upton Park from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Upton Park can be reduced if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
    • Many freeholders or managing agents in Upton Park charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Upton Park.
  • If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Upton Park home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without any joy. Can a leaseholder make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Upton Park conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

    in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Upton Park flat is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 69.77 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Upton Park