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Sample questions relating to South Acton leasehold conveyancing

I’m about to sell my garden apartment in South Acton.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – 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 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in South Acton. Conveyancing and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in South Acton who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a South Acton conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in South Acton where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local South Acton conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence 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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in South Acton from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Acton can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
  • Many freeholders or Management Companies in South Acton levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have 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 cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Acton.
  • Some South Acton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and frustrates many a South Acton conveyancing deal. If a reissued share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • All being well we will complete the disposal of our £475000 garden flat in South Acton on Wednesday in a week. The management company has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in South Acton?

    South Acton conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not involves the purchaser’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to assist. They are at liberty levy a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. In reality you have little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

    Following years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in South Acton. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

    Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a South Acton conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a South Acton property is 169 Southfield Road in September 2013. the tribunal decided that the premium to be paid in respect of the collective enfranchisement should be £51,203 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 64.64 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in South Acton