I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in West Ealing. Before diving in I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in West Ealing - 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.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a leasehold property in West Ealing. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

The physical extent of the demise. This will be the property itself but might include a loft or cellar if appropriate.

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the property, or having a home office for business

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

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

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in West Ealing please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in West Ealing

I am looking at a couple of flats in West Ealing which have in the region of 50 years left on the lease term. should I be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in West Ealing from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Ealing can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? West Ealing leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a West Ealing conveyancing transaction. If a new share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the sale of our £425000 flat in West Ealing next Friday . The management company has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in West Ealing?

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

• Answering pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in West Ealing
• 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 West Ealing leasehold premises is £350. For West Ealing 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 answers.

Having spent years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in West Ealing. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a West Ealing residence is 6 Jessamine Road in August 2013. The Tribunals valuation (as annexed to the decision) calculated the amount payable as £18,355 for the freehold reversion This case related to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 72.39 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in West Ealing