Looking forward to complete next month on a studio apartment in Streetly. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Streetly should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Streetly please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Streetly

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold flat in Streetly. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Streetly who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First contact HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Streetly conveyancing practitioner 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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Streetly conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Streetly conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you speak with two or three firms including non Streetly conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be of use:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?

If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Streetly from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Streetly can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Streetly charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Streetly.

A minority of Streetly leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain 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 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 conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unsettled.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Streetly conveyancing deal. If a duplicate share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £175000 apartment in Streetly on Monday in a week. The management company has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Streetly?

Streetly conveyancing on leasehold flats ordinarily necessitates administration charges levied by management companies :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Streetly
• 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 Streetly leasehold property is £350. For Streetly 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.

Streetly Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

It would be sensible to find out as much as possible about the company managing the building as they will impact your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day matters like the upkeep of the communal areas. You should not be shy to ask other people what they think of them. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that the service fees are due to the relevant party and precisely what you get for your money. In the main the cost for major works are not built into the service charges, albeit that a few managing agents in Streetly obliged tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance. Where a Streetly lease has less than eighty years it will impact the value of the property. Check with your bank that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth finding out what this will be. For most Streetlylease extensions you would need to own the property for a couple of years before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Streetly