I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Woodford Green. Before I get started I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and most are in Woodford Green - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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 have recently realised that I have Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Woodford Green. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order 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 demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Woodford Green.

I have just started marketing my garden apartment in Woodford Green.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you 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 managing agents 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Woodford Green from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Woodford Green can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Woodford Green state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Where you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
• A minority of Woodford Green leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice 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 solicitors.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle 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 purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a new share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Woodford Green conveyancing deal. If a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 150000 flat in Woodford Green in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Woodford Green?

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

• Completing conveyancing due diligence 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Woodford Green leasehold premises 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 obliged to provide answers.

Despite our best endeavours, we have been unsuccessful in seeking a lease extension in Woodford Green. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where 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 determine the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Woodford Green property 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 remaining number of years on the lease was 69.26 years.

Woodford Green Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

It is important to be aware if fixing the lift or some other significant cost is due shortly that will be shared amongst the tenants and may well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance fees or require a one time payment. Where a Woodford Green lease has no more than eighty years it will affect the value of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. For most Woodford Greenlease extensions you would need to own the residence for two years in order to be legally able to extend the lease.