Planning to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Woburn Sands. Conveyancing solicitors assured 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 Woburn Sands should include some of the following:

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

The total extent of the demise. This will be the apartment itself but may incorporate a roof space or basement if appropriate.

You must be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

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 details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Woburn Sands please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Woburn Sands

I’m about to sell my basement apartment in Woburn Sands.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Woburn Sands where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Woburn Sands conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with 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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Woburn Sands from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woburn Sands can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Woburn Sands levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woburn Sands.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Woburn Sands leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. If you dont have the consents to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Woburn Sands conveyancing deal. If a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £350000 flat in Woburn Sands in 8 days. The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Woburn Sands?

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

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Woburn Sands
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Woburn Sands leasehold property is £350. For Woburn Sands 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 required to provide answers.

I own a leasehold flat in Woburn Sands, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2006. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Woburn Sands with an extended lease are worth £210,000. The ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2076

With just 54 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £32,300 and £37,400 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you 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.

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Lease Extensions in Woburn Sands