Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in West Kensington

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

Questions and Answers: West Kensington leasehold conveyancing

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in West Kensington. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in West Kensington - 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 only have 62 years remaining on my lease in West Kensington. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering West Kensington.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in West Kensington.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is clear 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 until 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold house in West Kensington. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in West Kensington who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a West Kensington conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

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

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in West Kensington can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in West Kensington levy fees for supplying 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 accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Kensington.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in West Kensington state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Arranging a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a West Kensington conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

    • I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without any joy. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a West Kensington conveyancing firm to help?

    Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the premium.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a West Kensington flat is 93 Oakwood Court in June 2010. the LVT determined that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £492,083, This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 37.79 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in West Kensington