Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Wembley. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Wembley - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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 work for a reputable estate agency in Wembley where we see a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Wembley conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having 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 before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a Wembley conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Wembley conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Wembley conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?

If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £500000 apartment in Wembley in 8 days. The landlords agents has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Wembley?

For most leasehold sales in Wembley conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Wembley
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Wembley leasehold premises is £350. For Wembley 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.

Following months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Wembley. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Wembley residence is Ground Floor Flat 79 London Road in September 2012. the Tribunal held that the premium payable for the lease extension should be £7,636 This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 74 years.

What makes a Wembley lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Wembley. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in 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
• Insurance obligations
• 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 will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Santander, Barnsley Building Society, and Clydesdale all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Wembley