Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in North East London:

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Recently asked questions relating to North East London leasehold conveyancing

My partner and I may need to rent out our North East London 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a North East London conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous North East London conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent via your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I only have 68 years remaining on my flat in North East London. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering North East London.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in North East London. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in North East London with the aim of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in North East London can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
  • Many freeholders or Management Companies in North East London charge for providing 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 as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in North East London.
  • Some North East London leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a North East London conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

  • In relation to leasehold conveyancing in North East London what are the most common lease problems?

    Leasehold conveyancing in North East London is not unique. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Yorkshire Building Society, The Mortgage Works, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

    I purchased a studio flat in North East London, conveyancing was carried out in 2004. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in North East London with an extended lease are worth £200,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2099

    With 75 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £10,500 and £12,000 plus legals.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in North East London