Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in West Thurrock. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in West Thurrock - 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in West Thurrock. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in West Thurrock who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a West Thurrock conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in West Thurrock where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local West Thurrock conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

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 West Thurrock from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in West Thurrock can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in West Thurrock state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such alterations. If you fail to have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.
• Some West Thurrock leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy formality and slows down many a West Thurrock conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in West Thurrock. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a West Thurrock conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a West Thurrock premises is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case was in relation to 13 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76 years.

What are the common defects that you witness in leases for West Thurrock properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in West Thurrock. All leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Yorkshire Building Society, Leeds Building Society, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

I inherited a split level flat in West Thurrock, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding flats in West Thurrock with a long lease are worth £265,000. The ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease expires on 21st October 2080

With 54 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £27,600 and £31,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.