Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in St Leonard Shoreditch. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in St Leonard Shoreditch - 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 am looking at a two flats in St Leonard Shoreditch which have approximately fifty years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in St Leonard Shoreditch. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I work for a busy estate agency in St Leonard Shoreditch where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local St Leonard Shoreditch conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a St Leonard Shoreditch conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a St Leonard Shoreditch conveyancing practice) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you talk with several firms including non St Leonard Shoreditch conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be helpful:

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

What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing?

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £150000 flat in St Leonard Shoreditch next week. The freeholder has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in St Leonard Shoreditch?

St Leonard Shoreditch conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically results in fees being raised by landlords agents :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in St Leonard Shoreditch
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for St Leonard Shoreditch leasehold premises is £350. For St Leonard Shoreditch 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 required to supply answers.

I own a garden flat in St Leonard Shoreditch. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?

if there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St Leonard Shoreditch residence is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term was 72.39 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Leonard Shoreditch