I have just started marketing my ground floor apartment in Walworth.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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 unless 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 employed by a busy estate agent office in Walworth where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Walworth conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Walworth with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Walworth can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Walworth charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. 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 Walworth.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Walworth leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
• A minority of Walworth leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £ 225000 flat in Walworth next week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Walworth?

Walworth conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times results in fees being levied by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Walworth
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Walworth leasehold property is £350. For Walworth conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to supply the information.

I am the leaseholder of a two-bedroom flat in Walworth. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for the purchase of the freehold?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Walworth premises is 28 Valmar Road in June 2013. this was a case with an absentee freeholder. As a result the leaseholders applied to the Lambeth County Court for an order dispensing with the giving of a notice of claim. On 25 April 2013 District Judge Zimmels made a vesting order and directed that the matter should be transferred to this tribunal to determine the premium. The tribunal concluded on a fi
gure of £1,125 This case was in relation to 3 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 968 years.

What are the common deficiencies that you see in leases for Walworth properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Walworth. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• 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. Birmingham Midshires, Chelsea Building Society, and Aldermore 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 is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Walworth - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

Are there any major works on the horizon that will likely increase the maintenance charges? Where a Walworth lease has fewer than 80 years it will impact the value of the flat. Check with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the property for 24 months in order to be entitled to extend the lease.