Guaranteed fixed fees for Leasehold Conveyancing in West Beckton

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in West Beckton, you will need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Clydesdale , Birmingham Midshires or Bradford & Bingley make sure you find a lawyer on their approved list. Feel free to use our search tool

Recently asked questions relating to West Beckton leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in West Beckton. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in West Beckton - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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 have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my lease in West Beckton. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing West Beckton.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in West Beckton. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in West Beckton should include some of the following:

  • You should receive a copy of the lease
  • Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
  • Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or working from home
  • You must 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
  • Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in West Beckton please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in West Beckton

    • I work for a reputable estate agency in West Beckton where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local West Beckton conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

    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.

    Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in West Beckton from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

    • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Beckton can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
    • Many landlords or managing agents in West Beckton charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack 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 usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in West Beckton.
  • A minority of West Beckton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
  • You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

    • I have given up negotiating a lease extension in West Beckton. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

    in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to decide the amount due.

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a West Beckton property 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 affected 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 69.77 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in West Beckton