Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park:

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Leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park is more complex than freehold. Your home move will be smoother where you choose a lawyer with a wealth of experience of leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park and throughout next step up in loc. The lawyers we recommend have been approved by your lender so use our search tool to check.

Recently asked questions relating to Woodside Park leasehold conveyancing

There are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Woodside Park. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Woodside Park.

I’m about to sell my 2 bed apartment in Woodside Park.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a half-yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay the service charge 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 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 work for a reputable estate agent office in Woodside Park where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Woodside Park conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with 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 Woodside Park conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Woodside Park conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Woodside Park 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 many lease extensions has the firm conducted in Woodside Park in the last year?
  • What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing?

    • Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
    • The majority landlords or Management Companies in Woodside Park levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Woodside Park leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you dont have the paperwork in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.
  • Some Woodside Park leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.

    • After years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Woodside Park. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    if there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to decide the price.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Woodside Park flat is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 76 years.