I am attracted to a two maisonettes in South Sutton both have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in South Sutton. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I work for a long established estate agency in South Sutton where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local South Sutton conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a South Sutton conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a South Sutton conveyancing firm) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non South Sutton conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?

What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in South Sutton from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Sutton can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in South Sutton charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Sutton.

If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? South Sutton leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Where you fail to have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.

Some South Sutton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 purchasers or their solicitors.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a South Sutton conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

We expect to complete our sale of a £125000 maisonette in South Sutton on Monday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £360 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in South Sutton?

South Sutton conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually necessitates administration charges raised by freeholders :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in South Sutton
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for South Sutton leasehold premises is £350. For South Sutton 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.

I am the registered owner of a 2 bed flat in South Sutton, conveyancing was carried out 10 years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Equivalent flats in South Sutton with a long lease are worth £205,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2089

With only 64 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £16,200 and £18,600 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in South Sutton