My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Woodford Green. Conveyancing and Bank of Scotland mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Woodford Green who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Woodford Green conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a two apartments in Woodford Green which have about fifty years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Woodford Green is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the property. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Woodford Green conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Woodford Green where we see a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Woodford Green conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process 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. The benefit of this is 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 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 buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Woodford Green with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Woodford Green can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Woodford Green charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Woodford Green.

If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Woodford Green state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you dont have the paperwork in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer before hand.

If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy formality and delays many a Woodford Green home move. Where a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £225000 garden flat in Woodford Green in six days. The freeholder has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Woodford Green?

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

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Woodford Green
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Woodford Green leasehold property is £350. For Woodford Green 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 required to provide answers.

Having spent years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Woodford Green. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Woodford Green conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Woodford Green premises is 201 & 201a St. Barnabas Road in October 2013. The Tribunal decided that the price to be paid by the Applicants for the freehold interest is £20,071. This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 69.26 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Woodford Green