You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Planning to exchange soon on a basement flat in Walton on the Naze. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• Setting out your legal entitlements in relation to common areas in the building.For instance, does the lease grant a right of way over a path or hallways?
• 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
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• 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

For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Walton on the Naze please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Walton on the Naze

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Walton on the Naze. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I work for a long established estate agency in Walton on the Naze where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Walton on the Naze conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence 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. This means that the buyer 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 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Walton on the Naze from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Walton on the Naze can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Walton on the Naze levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Walton on the Naze.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Walton on the Naze state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you fail to have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Walton on the Naze home move. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £ 200000 garden flat in Walton on the Naze next Thursday . The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Walton on the Naze?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Walton on the Naze conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Walton on the Naze
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Walton on the Naze leasehold property is £350. For Walton on the Naze 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 supply the information.

I inherited a ground floor flat in Walton on the Naze, conveyancing having been completed in 1998. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Walton on the Naze with over 90 years remaining are worth £173,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease expires on 21st October 2077

With 51 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to be between £34,200 and £39,600 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.