Leasehold Conveyancing in Victoria Docks - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

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Any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in Victoria Docks, your mortgage provider may unwilling to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Examples of recent questions relating to leasehold conveyancing in Victoria Docks

My wife and I may need to rent out our Victoria Docks 1st floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Victoria Docks conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Victoria Docks conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you must seek consent from your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without prior consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Looking forward to complete next month on a studio apartment in Victoria Docks. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • Defining your rights in relation to common areas in the building.By way of example, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or staircase?
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • 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
  • I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
  • The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Victoria Docks please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Victoria Docks

    • I work for a long established estate agent office in Victoria Docks where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Victoria Docks conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

    As long as 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 buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

    Alternatively, it may be possible 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 provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Victoria Docks from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Victoria Docks can be bypassed 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 buyers lawyers.
    • The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Victoria Docks charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Victoria Docks.
  • A minority of Victoria Docks leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The 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 buyers or their solicitors.
  • If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
  • You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

    • Completion in due on the sale of our £475000 apartment in Victoria Docks next week. The managing agents has quoted £300 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Victoria Docks?

    Victoria Docks conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes often involves the buyer’s lawyer sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They are at liberty invoice a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is in excess of £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality you have no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to sell the property.

    I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such matters? Can you recommend a Victoria Docks conveyancing firm to assist?

    Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Victoria Docks conveyancing firm who can help.

    An example of a Lease Extension case for a Victoria Docks flat is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 69.77 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Victoria Docks